


I turned and you were there...

by Himilce



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abuelo Bail, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Anakin Skywalker is alive, Anakin’s Ghost, Detective Phasma, Doctor Poe Dameron, F/M, For preventing spoilers, HEA, Kidnapping, Lawyer Armitage Hux, Lawyer Ben Solo, Menacing with the Tartarus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reporter Rose Tico, cutting in half bad guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:15:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25128367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himilce/pseuds/Himilce
Summary: After a cruel twist of fate took her husband away, Persephone ruled the Underworld until the heartache was too much to bear. She went up to the realm of the humans, trying to distract herself from her anguish.Then one day, at a party, she saw him.Younger.Human.Her Hades.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 79
Kudos: 110
Collections: Galactic Idiots Collection





	1. Chapter 1: The Party

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been inspired by [this](https://twitter.com/galacticidiots/status/1272198311483772928?s=20) amazing prompt from Galactic Idiots. I can't said how much I tank her for let me write and publish her prompt.  
> I want also to thank all my betas from my Book Club who have encouraged me to write this fic and have been there to correct my poor English and woo me for this to happen. You will never imagine what it is to have you at my back ^^

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is New Year Eve. It's the beginning of a new decade, the last of the 20th century. A century more exciting than expected. What would bring this new year of this new decade?  
> For Persephone, just alcohol and hope to forget, or it’s what she thinks...

**_New York City, December 31th 1989_ **

Persephone looked at the mistletoe over the door, a cup in her hand. She didn't know what stopped her to burn that thing to the ground. Humans believed they have to kiss if two found themselves by chance under it. Yes, definitely she has to burn that bloody thing down. 

“Sis!”

She turned and found herself looking at one of the few idiots in her family she didn't want to kill. Brilliant redhead, mischievous smile, piercing blue eyes, very pale skin; no one would have ever said they were siblings. The only thing they have in common was their acid sense of humour and the freckles. 

“If I didn't want to fly this boring party already.”

“I've missed you too.” He hugged her. It was one of those hugs she has ended appreciating: just enough to feel the other. “What are you doing here? In the human world?”

"Get drunk."

"You should have contact Dionysos for that. He knows the best parties."

"I don't want to do anything with our family."

"Still don't talk to your mom?" She didn't answer, she didn't have to. "Well, you get yourself in the best New Year’s party of the Big Apple. You still know your stuff; I give you that."

She sighed very deeply.

"Rose convinced me. She's a reporter for one of those useless magazines for women. You know: find the man of your life on page three, lose four pounds with this miracle way on page ten, new tendencies of overprices dresses on page fifteen, and the absolute perfect brownie recipe on page twenty. She has an engineering degree! I don't know what the fuck is she doing working there."

"Paying her bills?"

"I'm capable of paid her bills only to see her applying to the MIT. And if they say something because she's Asian and a woman they going to regretting it bitterly."

"Go, girl!"

"By the way, what's your name those days, Hermes?"

"The name I use now between humans is Armitage Hux."

"Like the museum?"

"No! That's with an H. Mine is with an A: A.R.M.I.T.A.G.E"

“Ridiculous”

“Rey!”

Persephone turned and found her friend Rose intoxicated. She raised an eyebrow in disapproval.

“You’re more than drunk.”

“Barely.” She scanned Hermes from head to toe. She smirked “Hi”

“Rose, no. He doesn't deserve you.”

“You know _him_?” She used a few tones higher.

“Unfortunately. He's my brother.”

“You have that man as your brother and didn't tell your best friend?”

“That’s precisely why.”

“I feel betrayed and robbed!”

“Wait until you know him better.” 

“Girls! I’m right here.”

“Hi, I’m Rose Tico. Independent journalist at the Women Insider.”

Hermes shook her hand with his most devastating smile.

“Armitage Hux, lawyer at Snoke, Palpatine and Associates.”

“It’s true that, after the death of Shiev Palpatine, only Snoke leads the firm?”

“Are you making me an interview, Miss Tico?” his teeth shone like diamonds.

“I'm having any success?”

“I’ll not witness this disaster happening.” 

Persephone said her goodbyes, even if she wasn't sure if they heard her, and she went to the bar in desperate need of something stronger than wine to melt with her nectar. 

Being a goddess, she really couldn't drink or eat anything else than nectar or ambrosia, the drink and food of the gods. But, with time, she had developed a certain taste for human food, however it must have been mixed with her food. Maybe it wasn't good for her body, but she couldn't care less. She had been alive for a very long time, and since close two thousand years, she was _so_ lonely.

She couldn't have never believed, the day she married him, that one day, closer to the day of their wedding than the present day, she would lose him. It was something that everyone thought it was impossible. If she told the little humans that gods could die, they will never believe her. But that was the ugly truth: they were as mortals as humans; and the only ones who could kill them was precisely humans, by not needing the gods anymore. 

Usually, gods never do anything beautifully, but her husband did. He died calmly with a smile on his lips after kissing her for the last time. By that time, he was so exhausted that couldn't say a word. He, that had such a powerful and grave voice, couldn't even say her name one last time. She loved so much heard him talking and reading to her. They have passed hundreds of nights with a cup of nectar in their hands and him reading the last tragedy. She always paid half attention to the play, she liked too much the sound of his voice. But now, she had spent millennia without hearing his voice and only looking at his smile in her memories. 

It was so painful.

After his death, she had taken the reins of his realm, for him, for them, for herself. Something like that couldn't let leave without someone and she needed something of him to have. They never had children. Her decision to remain was a breaking point with her mother. They said to each other the ugliest things. They have talked after that, but their relationship was never the same. 

Persephone ruled the Underworld for more than fifteen hundred years before making her first step outside. She visited Hermes in London. That day rained and it paired so well her constant mood that she smiled for the first time in centuries. After that, she gets out more and more just for breathing and not thinking about her loneliness. Because she was lonely. Without him, every single part of the Underworld was a vast desert where her heart was breaking slowly. That day in London she understood that she couldn't stay only there, between the memories. She needed to go outside again, to breath fresh air or she would die like him. 

The Underworld was too full of memories of their life together and her grief. 

"What do you have as alcohol?" She asked at the bartender of the New York party.

"Sparkling Lillet punch, spiced Rum punch, champagne and St. Germain. I recommend the last one."

"Do you have whiskey?"

He looked around as to be reassured that no one was looking and said.

"I'm not supposed to give you that but, you seem to need it" He poured a long shot in a fancy coloured cup and gave it to her.

"You are my saviour" She raised the cup in his honour and turn to join again the party.

When she was discreetly putting nectar from a flask she had in her purse in her cup, she heard someone calling her.

"Solaris?!"

She gasped. She hadn't heard that name in more than thirty years. She turned and found a man in his sixties, with a cocky smile, who continued to wear incredibly well a suit but feel perfectly uncomfortable in a reception. She couldn't believe it!

"Han Solo?! It's that you?"

"Oh my god! You’re Rey, Solaris's kid. You look exactly like your mom at your age."

Of course she did. She created a daughter, from time to time, to fool ancient acquaintances and continue to walk in the human world unknown. It's a small world, she could cross path with someone met a long time ago, and if she didn't have a back-up story it would be too creepy to not old like them. She was saved by this story that time.

"How's your mom, kid?"

"Good. She's in California, enjoying the sun."

"Good for her!" He looked at her cup. "You can have whiskey at this boring party?!"

She had to laugh: he almost sounded outraged.

"Only if you wink at the bartender."

"Good to know." Poor bartender. He was about to have a very insistent pilot at his bar. "And what do you do in life?"

Fast, fast, she had to come with something: ruling the Underworld wasn't a valid option.

"I have a little flower shop in the Upper East Side."

He whistled.

"Good neighborhood. You have a green thumb, like your mother." Yes, you could bet on that. "And what a little florist of the Upper East Side does in this fancy party?" He wasn't an idiot, even if he liked that everyone thought otherwise. 

"My best friend dragged me here and now she's interested in other matters... other redhead matters."

"Great! So, you can meet my boy!" Oh great. No! Meet Han Solo 2 no. Please, for all the gods' sake.

“Han... sure he has other things in mind in New Year's Eve than meet the daughter of a friend of his father.” Please! He has to!

“He would be delighted to escape his mother's friends. Come!”

And without any further fuss, he took her hand and dragged her through the crowd. Usually, she would have _never_ let any human do that, but she had a soft spot for Han Solo. They have lived an incredible amount of adventures together. He has been the first human to make her heartache disappear a little, she could let him introduce his son. 

“There he is. The tall penguin with dark hair; even if now he has already lost his tie. You can't miss him.”

She didn't. If Persephone thought her heart couldn't break anymore, she was wrong. In the middle of a circle, chatting with what she knew was his bored face, there was him.

Younger.

Human.

_Her Hades._


	2. Chapter 2: Ben

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone has to deal with Ben Solo... with too much Ben Solo for her taste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank again Fran for the loveliest prompt and for let me go free with my idea.  
> Also thanks to all my friends from my Book Club who cared for this story and were there to tell me that they loved my writing.  
> And finally all of you who read my first chapter. All your comments and bookmarks means a lot to me. Thank you very much!  
> Here the second chapter!

Persephone was completely petrified. The Fates couldn't be so cruel with her. She was looking from far away to a human who looked exactly like the husband she had lost so many centuries ago. She had thought that she would have forgotten the manner he looked at people, the manner he moved, the manner his eyes could express so many things. But she hadn't. She remembered everything perfectly. She could be looking at that man and predict what was he thinking; and she wouldn't be wrong.

And overall: that human suit suited him so well. The black of his jacket combined with the curls of his dark hair, who was dishevelled by the high number of times he had passed his hand over it. The clear white of his shirt drew the attention to his powerful neck and jawline. Due to the loss of the tie, one could glimpse the beginning of his broad chest. And his eyes! Everyone always thought he had black eyes, like the night, but they were amber and warm. Warm like the whiskey she was nursing in her hand.

In summary, he had a sinfully aura which she would have drown in it without any second guess.

But Han Solo's son wasn't her Hades. And that hurt more than a thousand daggers in her heart. He couldn't be her beloved, the man with who she passed so many nights hearing Greek literature, the man which smile greeted her every morning like the sun, the man who knew her body so well that with only one look he could light her in the middle of a crowd full of gods... oh she wanted so badly kill him when he did that!

And there she was again, missing him so much that her heart was sunken in a frozen ocean.

“Excuse me,” Han interrupted a young man talking, “Can I borrow my son for a moment?”

They left the circle and get back to her. Persephone was very tempted to fly away from there. She didn't want to know anything about this man, and certainly didn't want to see a void of no-recognition in his eyes, she couldn't bear it. She was about to melt in the crowd when she heard him talk.

“You saved me! I didn't know how to get rid of them.”

With those few words, he pinned her on the spot. Same husky voice, warm and wrapper.

“Perfect! In repayment, you will meet a friend of mine, Rey Jones. She’s the daughter of Doctor Solaris Jones, I have talked about her.”

“Once or two, father.”

She could hear him roll his eyes. By his tone, Han had talked about Persephone more times than would have been good for a married man. But he didn't care, he laughed at his son’s comment.

“Come on!”

She had to confront the last thing she wanted to. She didn't want to know if being in front of him would bring the same sensations as before, if he smelled like him...

"Rey, this is my son Benjamin. He's a lawyer with the soul of an artist. Ben, that lovely girl is Rey. If she's something like her mother, she can break your leg in three while taking care of her plants.”

“Nice to meet you.” She said trying to not show all her desperation.

“Nice to meet you too...”

He looked at her with fondness. Like he has found again a dear friend long last lost, like she was that silver sword he has been looking for so many years that he didn't remember when the search has begun. They shook hands and when they separated, he toyed a little her fingers, like he didn't want to end the connexion with her. Persephone let him do. Ben had the same big hands as her Hades, and he liked so much touched her with his fingertips. Some mornings, he woke her up because he had entertained himself too much following the line of her jaw or the curve of her waist.

“Well... I’ll let you get acquainted. I have a bartender to harass and a whiskey to obtain.”

And he flew leaving the two of them alone. Ben smiled at her in a very boyish manner that made Persephone heart melt like an ice cube in the desert.

“Did you mind if we move a little bit? I don't want to come back there and if they see that my father has flew away, they will attack again. They are like seagulls.”

She had to smile. He was adorable in his way to look at her hopefully like she was a knight in shining armor.

“Of course we can. We don't want you to be in a Hitchcock movie.”

“Don't mention that movie!” He smiled and the sun illuminated the room. Persephone would have to ask Apollo his sunglasses, this human was too much to her dark heart. “I still have nightmares because of it.”

“I could make them disappear.”

They were walking through the room and he stopped suddenly looking at her, eyes widened.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

She had said what? He was affecting her more than she had thought. She needed to focus again; she couldn't say such things. She needed to change the subject after that disaster.

“Han is a pilot, are you following his steps?”

A shadow of disappointing passed through his eyes. Or maybe she imagined that because he was smiling again.

“At all. As my father as said, I'm a lawyer. In Snoke, Palpatine and Associates.”

Now it was her turn to stop in the place. She had to think a little before talking! She was the rightful ruler of the Underworld, she couldn't continue making a fool of herself. But the most important, he was a lawyer where? If he knew him, she was about to commit fratricide.

“Do you know an Armitage Hux?”

Ben thought about a long minute.

“Only by reputation. We have never officially met.” Brother saved! “Why? You know him?”

“Too well. He's my brother.”

“Your brother? I thought your name was Jones...”

“Same father, different mother. We took the names of our mothers. It’s funny because only two of the siblings have the family name of our father. The others simply can’t stand the idea.”

He looked at her eye widened.

“How many are you?”

She had to think a little. She decided only to include the gods.

“My father was a very liberal man, we still discovering sibling from time to time. In the last family reunion, we were... let me think... Hux, the twins, the two brothers, the nuts, the drunk and me. That's eight.”

He made a thing between a smile and a laugh.

“You are going to make me jealous. I’m an only child. When I was little, I wanted desperately to have siblings.”

Persephone smiled at that.

“Me too. Because of my father, I was raised apart from them. I’ve discovered all my siblings being an adult. But don't make me wrong, I didn't have a bad childhood, my mom gave me all her love.”

“I wish I could say the same...”

What was that sad smile? Why Han’s son was so sad? She didn't have the impression they have a bad relationship before. It was all a façade?

“But I prefer to speak of other more pleasant things. My father has said that you like plants, what else?”

And they passed the next hour talking about all sort of things, from graffiti in the streets to bouquets of pencils in September.

* * *

Persephone was about to die of non-sense! She was so lucky that Hermes was occupied with Rose to not see her. She couldn't bear him teasing her after this soirée.

“Well, I'll retreat. It's going to be late.”

“Late?” A little disappointment could be heard in his voice, or at least it was what Persephone wanted to hear “It's almost midnight! Stay until twelve.” He looked at her pleadingly. “Please.”

His voice was so soft, his plea so anguish, she was totally incapable to said "no" to him. She had to stay at his side for the rest of the evening. And something inside her was screaming that she had to flee after midnight. Otherwise, she will be incapable of leaving his side for the rest of his life, and she wouldn't bear his death again. She'll die of a broken heart. It's possible, she had seen it.

“Just until midnight.”

“Deal!”

His brilliant smile illuminated the room. She was already doomed.

A few minutes before twelve, they were joined again by Han. He had made friend with the bartender and had an endless supply of whisky. Persephone begged him for another drink. She needed one desperately. The night with Ben Solo had been too painful for her heart. But before Han came back, the countdown started. When it arrived at zero, and everyone yelled "Happy New Year!", the lights shot down to let them see the fireworks from outside.

It was at that moment when someone took advantage to kiss her. And sadly, she knew too well those lips. The warmth they gave to her, the musk she could taste in her mouth, the little kiss he always gave to her after the first, because he never had enough with only one.

Ben Solo took advantage of the darkness and by the way of looking at her, he didn't even regret it.

"I wanted to do it since the moment I saw you."

At this point, Persephone had two choices: slap him or left him where he was. She chose the most painful option for him. She left Ben where he was, without bothered to say a word.

He chased her desperately, catching her at the door.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry because I'm not."

She looked at him outraged. When she was about to say something really nasty, Han appeared in their back.

“Hey! Kids! Don't disappear like that!”

It wasn't really the Solo’s night. She looked at Han in a murderous way. She was already ruling the Underworld when the trees which what the Mayflower was built were still in their seeds. She wasn't someone who you can call kid easily. She couldn't say exactly that to him, but she was about to say something in the same line when she was interrupted, again.

“Rey!! Happy New Year!!!”

She turned and saw Rose, more drunken than before. She was followed by a more than happy Armitage Hux. They stopped at their level. He seemed shocked when he saw Ben Soloand just after, he had the nerve to smirked at Persephone and said:

“Happy New Year, sister.”

She was going to kill someone this evening. So many willingly victims.

“I’m going to throw you to the deepest deep in the Tartarus and left you rotting there for the rest of the eternity.” She used her most venomous tone for her brother.

“Love you too, sis.” He was completely unimpressed.

“OH... MY... GOD!!” Next Persephone’s victim: Rose. “You two are under the mistletoe!!”

She looked up and there it was, that bloody thing.

“I should have burned it when I had the occasion.”

“And what stopped you?”

“You, Armitage! You stopped me by appearing.”

He had the nerve to laugh in her misery.

“You two have to kiss. It brings bad luck to not doing it and it's the first day of the year, it's more powerful today.”

Persephone was almost certain that she has never heard anything about the increase of powers of the mistletoe during New Year, but again she didn't even believe in the plant’s power from the beginning. And she was the goddess of Spring.

She looked at Armitage and he was trying extremely hard to hide the great smile on his face. Persephone arrived at a conclusion: she was definitely going to throw her brother in the Tartarus, with a very strong and accurate kick in his ass.

She looked at Ben Solo. His honeyed eyes gazed at her with the intensity of a supernova. Persephone wanted no more thing than stay away from him, but it was absolutely impossible, she was pinned to the ground.

“If she wants. I would never force her.”

THE LIAR!! He just did it! He maybe wasn't from her family anymore, but he still had the audacity that had characterized every single member. She didn't know what stopped her to punch him in his perfect face. His large nose was asking for it!

“As if I have much the choice.”

Han laughed.

“Rey, kid, it's not the end of the world. It's a kiss, a simple peak. But don't feel forced. Nothing would happen if you don't.” She looked at him. “But hey, I didn't know you thought my kid was that ugly.”

She reacted by instinct. Of all the people gathered there, Han was the last who has earned a hit, but she couldn't resist it. She punched him on the arm.

“I haven't said that!” A huge smile began to appear in the Solo’s face. “Don’t dare to smile. Ok, ok, you won. A single kiss. But try something out of range, and I swear it, I'll cut your parts with a rusted sickle!” She warned Ben, who continued to smile.

“Oh, is not a joke. Believe me, she knows how to use one.” Armitage was the only one who never smiled and still didn't. He knew her capabilities.

All parts looked at Persephone bewildered. However, she could catch a change in the eyes of Ben. One of the goods things of have been married to a man who looked exactly like him was to recognize the tiniest details. Now she could see how he was surprised by what her brother said but also how he was turned on by the possibility of her being that aggressive. She gulped. That man was extremely dangerous.

Ben smiled at her. He took her face with extreme caution and bent over to kiss her. In the beginning, it was a soft and innocent kiss, but neither of them couldn't resist the pull through the other. Persephone pulled sharply away one of his hands and dragged him close to her by the base of his head. It was the strong movement he needed. Ben deepened his kiss by opening the mouth and asked permission softly with his tongue. She didn't hesitate a second and granted his entrance by opening her mouth to him. Their tongues played in a combat of seduction intensified by the closeness of their bodies. When she pulled away from his hand, he put it in the base of her back for clashing her body to his own. They couldn't be closer to one another and they still felt not enough.

They kissed like that for a few minutes, but they needed to separate. When they did, they tried to recover their breath however, the only air they could breathe was the breath from the other. They still locked in each other arms and they looked intensely in the other’s eyes. Persephone looked a second at his lips before going back to his eyes. She suppressed an intense desire for chewing her bottom lip. She knew Ben would like it too much. She would never give to him that satisfaction.

“That. Was. Hot!”

“So much for not liking my son...”

“You’re in so much trouble, sis”

Their comments broke the spell. Persephone definitely separated herself from Ben and in a big state of arousal she said:

“Good night, everyone.”

And she ran from the party. She realised it have been too much for her. His lips were exactly like Hades’s, his tongue knew how to caress her, his embrace round her with that warmth Persephone had so much missed, she could even now, running away from him, still smell and taste his essence brushing her senses. He had overwhelmed her in every sense of the word. She had to separate herself from him, for both wellbeings.

The last thing she heard was Ben calling for her from the spot where they were a few moments ago.

[ ](https://ibb.co/Q9byY3L)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of the chapter. Thanks for reading!  
> Have you identify all Persephone’s siblings thanks to her ”lovely” description of them?  
> Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3: Cerberus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben would accompanied us in the continuation of what happened to him in the next day. We met new gods and... someone very happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank Fran for having the most magnificent brain for AU and having give me life with this fic; to my Book Club without which this never would have existed, and to you, for reading and coming here every time I post someting. I hope you’ll like.

He really didn't like running. At all! But he was someone with a lot of energy in his body. Usually, he spent his excess energy at the dojo. But today was the first day of the year, every single one of the dojos of New York was closed. He hadn't another choice than running in the park. He woke up at seven, put on a basic t-shirt and shorts, all in black, grabbed his walkman and took a last look before leaving his house. A little smile floated on his lips. Grandma Breha would have cried over the colors he chose to wear.

He maybe didn't like to run, but it was good for him. It gave him time to think, and he had a lot of things to think about. Like the appointment he was about to have at the entrance of the zoo. He technically only had her code name _Athena_ , but he was a very good bloodhound. He knew how she looked like and her true name: Gwendolyn Phasma, a detective at the New York Police Department. He was her lead for a particularly nasty case who could involve some of the highest lawyers of his company. This would be their first face to face meeting and he wasn't even nervous.

The thing it occupied all his thoughts was her: Rey Jones. He still couldn't believe she was real. Her intense eyes, her beautiful locks of hair, her adorable freckles unfairly spread across the face, her shining smile... He knew all of those charms for having dreamed about her since he could remember. Rey has been the only woman in his thoughts. Ben always believed that she was only a product of his imagination, but his father introduced the daughter of his biggest crush and suddenly, she was real. And she was way more attractive than in his most foolish dream. When she threatened him with that rusted sickle, he needed all his strength to not drag her to his apartment and not let her leave it for a week... let's better say a month.

That woman would be the death of him. And he knew how to obtain information about her. He needed to see her again. But first, the appointment at the zoo. 

He arrived twenty minutes early, bought a ticket for walking more freely and hid behind a close tree. He was clever to arrive before. Five minutes after being settled at the tree he saw her arrive. She was normally dressed, a long white coat, jeans and white sneakers. But even if she tried, she couldn't go unnoticed. She was very tall and her platinum hair attracted attention at the moment.

He decided to not make her wait too long. He came from behind and introduced himself.

“Athena.”

She turned around and looked at him. She was good at hiding her emotions, but a bit of surprise passed through her eyes.

“Aidoneus…”

“I prefer the most modern version of the name, Hades, but yes it's me.” She hid the surprise with a smile. “Fancy a walk?”

She accepted and they began to walk in the long alleys of the park.

“I had time to look at the files you sent me for Christmas... this is huge.”

“Why do you think I have contacted you? The dossiers are worrying, the trips abroad are every day less discrete, I’ve seen more than dubious men entering Snoke’s office. I'll not let this company sink into whatever he wants?”

“It seems personal?”

He stopped walking.

“Do you know who the " _Associates_ " are that are referenced in the name?” The police officer shook her head. " _Amidala & Skywalker _ " _._ ”

She fell in silence. Like everyone in that country, she knew the great lines of the story. He knew the small print, the one who hurt the most.

“The original name was " _Amidala & Skywalker, Lawyer and P.I. _". They dreamed of helping the ones who couldn't afford a good lawyer and my grandmother was the best in the city. But their dream was broke as their lives.” He looked back again at her. “This is very personal to me. I’ll destroy Snoke, with my bare hands, and legally. I’m heartless as my grandfather and smart as my grandmother. That sentient raisin will regret everything he had done. And because Palpatine is dead; if he wasn't, he would be my first victim.”

Detective Phasma looked at him seriously.

“Remind me to never, under any circumstances, piss you off.”

He had to smile. The subject of his grandparents’ company was a very touchy theme for him. 

“How did you find all of this? I found it with the usual dead-end lead from a body. But you came to me with a lot of information already collected.”

“They made the awful mistake to underestimate a young intern.” He smiled mischievously “I can't tell you his name, for now, it could put him in danger, and he could be useful later. They use a code based in two languages, Spanish and Japanese. That young intern is from Japanese descendants, I, from Puerto Ricans. He has a natural curiosity; he saw some files in Japanese and wanted to read them; feel the lawyers’ expressions in the language of his ancestors. Only, he couldn't, he didn't understand a word. He came to me to have some kind of explanation. I don't speak Japanese, so I asked him to read them at loud. Imagine my surprise when I found a little intern reading in Spanish a very worrying document.”

She didn't seem to understand.

“They used the Japanese writing, kanjis included, to transliterate a Spanish document and hide it in plain sight. Everyone thought it was a Japanese document, but it was a Spanish document written in Japanese. A very basic spy technique. I told him to not tell a soul what he had found and tried to find every document like this one he had shown me. He's very smart. It took him weeks to photocopy everything discretely. It helped the fact that I have a very bad reputation; if someone said anything, he said that he was on my orders and I sent them to hell. After he photocopied all the documents, he transliterated what was written and I translated them. Now, it was possible to work on the documents and after, bring all the cases to you.”

“It’s quite impressive...”

They walked a little longer talking about the specifications of the investigation. When they were about to say goodbye, they both heard a panicked voice in their direction. Ben had to admit he never understood what that voice said, the only thing he saw was a very happy dog jumping over him. He didn't have the time to avoid or to stop it, it just jumped over him and landed in his chest. Since he was completely unprepared, he didn't calculate the weight of the dog and fell. His head hit the ground with force and almost knocked him out. 

He passed several minutes on the ground trying to remember how to move again. He opened his eyes when he felt a lot of kisses from the dog. He didn't know why, but it was very happy to see him. From the end of his foggy mind, he heard a voice speaking. And gosh! He knew that voice!

He opened his eyes and saw her. She was there, looking nervous, but so beautiful. She wore a grey coat with a blue scarf. Her jeans were a little short so he could see her socks (black with white dots) and white sneakers (why was everyone obsessed with white sneakers? They were completely impractical). Her beautiful chestnut hair was tied up in a simple bun. He could spend the rest of his life looking at her from the ground, he couldn't care less. Except she seemed worried, and that he did care about. With a growl, he stood up supporting himself in his elbow.

“You really are going to be the death of me.”

She looked absolutely horrified. He wanted to kill himself. The only thing he wanted was to lighten the tension, not terrify her.

“Hey, hey, just a joke. I’m fine. Really.” By the pain in his head, he wasn't sure.

“Don’t make jokes about that!” She was really serious, “You hit the ground very hard.”

“That’s what happens when you are more than six feet tall: your head can fall from very high.” 

He smiled at her trying to calm her. By the gasp that escaped from her lips, he managed it. After massaging his head, he looked at his hand and saw blood. Ok, maybe he wasn't well after all.

“That’s it! We go to the hospital right now!”

Rey’s order sounded delicious in his ears. He wanted to follow her to the end of the world and stand by her side all the way long.

“You have a dog, what are you going to do with him?”

“And I also have a beautiful sister who can call our marvelous sister Kaydel to take care of him. Then you are going to join us at the hospital because, if he sues me, I want a witness who can say that Cerberus didn't hit him on purpose.”

“I’m not so sure of that...”

“Gwen!!”

“Ok! Ok! I’m calling an ambulance. Poe is at the General.”

“Thanks. Another brother could be really helpful.”

Ben had to assimilate a lot of things. First, Rey and Detective Phasma knew each other. More than that, they were sisters. And they have another brother, a guy named Poe (what a ridiculous name if you asked Ben), who was a doctor at the General hospital. In twenty-four hours, he had, or will, met four of the eight siblings in Rey’s family and heard about a fifth. But most important...

“You named your dog Cerberus?”

The two women looked at him bewildered.

“Yes... he had a lot of spots when we adopted him as a puppy.”

True, Cerberus meant Spot in ancient Greek. The dog in question was looking at him, wagging his tail, like it was the best day of his life. He was an all brown dog, like a Pitbull, but less scary. Maybe a mixed breed. He liked more dogs like that... Wait a moment! _When_ ** _we_** _adopted him_? Who are “we”??

****

Ben didn't remember well how he arrived at the hospital. He remembered an ambulance, being bossy to get in, some kind of protest, and then here he was, being examined by a very handsome man. He focused on his dark curls and intense eyes. He was looking at him very seriously, like he was in danger.

“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll spontaneously combust. You're hot.”

The man blinked a few times before he could say anything.

“You know how dangerous it is to say that to me, sweetheart?”

“Poe! No flirting with patients!”

A voice came from behind the handsome man. Ben knew that voice: Rey.

“He started it! I’m innocent.”

“Don’t care! Just heal him.”

“Rey?” He wanted to sit up but the man, Poe, didn't let him. “Where am I?”

He still felt a little dizzy.

“At the General Hospital” Doctor Poe answered him. He remembered now that doctor was one of Rey’s siblings. “You have hit your head. How do you feel? Any problems with focusing?”

Ben looked at Rey behind the doctor. He tried to focus on her and all the questions he had for her. He decided to focus on the most urgent and most intriguing for him.

“Who are "we"?”

She looked at him completely puzzled.

“I think... you need to rest Mr Solo” Doctor Poe looked at her looking for answers, but she didn't seem to understand either. “Do you have someone who can watch over you in the next twenty-four, forty-eight hours?”

His brain was very hazy, but only thought of being watched by his parents during one or two days like a baby made him sick.

"No. Can I stay in the hospital?"

"Absolutely not! There aren't enough beds for you. Unless you lost consciousness, I really prefer you to be at your home, in a stress-free environment."

"You clearly don't know my parent’s home. Is the most stressful place on the planet for me."

"Friends?"

Silence.

"You need to be watched. I don't care how you are going to manage that. Contract a nurse for a day or two, I can give you some numbers, but that hit in the head needs to be controlled. Doctor's orders."

Ben looked at Rey raising an eyebrow and smiling. 

"Oh, no! Don't you dare!"

"Doctor's orders," Ben repeated with a smile.

Doctor Poe exploded in laughs when he understood what he was asking for Rey. 

"The guts! I like him."

"It's not funny, Poe!"

"Oh yes, it is. A day or two. It won't kill either of you. And if I recall correctly, it was your dog who hit him."

"Cerberus was happy to see him!"

"I would be happy to see him too if I was him..."

Ben didn't fully understand what they were saying to each other, but he was almost certain of one thing: he was going to begin the year with a day or two of non-stop company of the girl of his dreams. And maybe he could escape his family dinner. 

That dog could hit him all the times he wanted!

[ ](https://ibb.co/8shxXvD)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Two moodboards! I’m from Belgium and today is our Nationa Day so I wanted to give a little surprise to all of you!
> 
> So here is a summary of the gods for now:
> 
> Persephone: Rey  
> Hades: Ben  
> Hermes: Hux  
> Athena: Phasma  
> Apollo: Poe  
> Artemis: Kaydel
> 
> And more are to come! I wanted to have Poe has Apollo because he was always depicted in the ancients texts as having very dark black curl hair, and in every single depiction of him I was seeing him as blond. And he’s one of the most bi gods of all. It was too tempting xD  
> I have already decided Thanatos and Hypnos (the Death and the Sleep) but if you want to see someone specialty depicted as a god, tell me. The Skywalkers have they own way to follow, but for the rest they are free. Don't underestimate any culture or character. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and comment. All your interctions gave me life!
> 
> There is my [Twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/Himilce02648519). I usually post numb things about my ships and sneak peeks when I’m close to publish.


	4. Chapter 04: Coffee at the Organa’s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey get closer but an unexpected visitor interrupt their dinner...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter asen't been beted, my usual betas had a very busy week (life happens). I want to say sorry for all the errors you may find, English isn't my first language.
> 
> As you may have noted I publish every Thursday a new chapter. Thursday are my least favorite day of the week, so I try to make it funnier. I’ve got a tendinitis, so the next week’s chapter could be smaller.

“What do you mean you can't come?!”

Ben could hear his mother yell at the phone without the necessity to have it close to his ear.

“As I have told you already three times, I had an accident, hit my head, thanks for the concern by the way, and I have to rest for two days. Doctors’ orders.”

“And you can't rest at home?”

“In one of your little parties? Of course not! They are the most stressful things in the universe. Talking with you right now is stressful already. I need calm and, unless you have changed a lot in your way of making parties, it will be crowded. So, see you in a week, Mother.”

“Benjamin Solo, don't you dare...”

But he didn't give her the time to finish her sentence. He hanged up the phone with more violence than necessary. She made him so angry! She didn't even ask for his health. He was great, but that wasn't the point. A mother should have asked for her son. She listened coldly that he needs two days of rest by orders of a doctor and the worse thing was that he couldn't make it to her New Year’s party? He wanted to massacre her mother.

He went to his dining room fuming ready to destroy the first thing under his fist, but what he saw took his breath away. Rey was at the window, a book in her hands. The afternoon sun was filtering through the leaves from the tree who was growing in front of his apartment wildly. The view was magnificent, like rays of sunshine illuminate her from behind and gave her her own light. She had the hair up in slight waves and wore a crochet white dress with wide sleeves who made her aethereal. He could almost see through her dress, but she didn't seem cold. She didn't wear any jewellery and her makeup was light.

He could look at her like this for the rest of his days and he would never be bored.

After leaving the hospital, she had returned to her house to picking some things to be comfortable in his house and make sure her dog was well attended. As much as he had understood, Cerberus was gardened by one of Rey’s sisters, Kaydel, who loves dogs and was very good with them. She didn’t seem ok with this idea. Ben was sure she would have preferred to have him with them. Ben wouldn’t have minded either, he liked dogs. But Gwendolyn, Detective Phasma, another of the siblings, said that it was safer to keep Cerberus away from Ben, even if it was only for Ben’s security from Cerberus’s overwhelming love. Ben’s head tended to be agreed with the police officer.

Rey didn't seem to have noticed when Ben had entered the room. He approached her gently, didn't want to spook her, and greet her. She raised her eyes from the book and smiled at him. Ben had to remember how to think.

“What are you reading?”

“Antigone, by Sophocles.” It seemed to bring back good memories to her. “Someone very special used to read Greek tragedies to me.”

A red-hot dagger nailed itself in his chest with those words. He finally understood. She was talking about a partner. Someone she loved very fondly. His heart broke like he didn't know it was possible to break. She was in love with someone else, and by all means, he wasn't that someone.

Suddenly he remembered his behaviour from the night before. Ok, he had drunk more than it would have been correct to do, but his actions toward her had been unacceptable. More, now than he knew she was in love with someone else and that all his idiocies weren’t going to take him anywhere... WHAT HE WAS THINKING?! He shouldn't have done any of those things from the beginning! With someone or not. She was right to be mad at him!

He was the absolute complete more asshole of the universe!

“Look... about yesterday.” She was still pissed at him; it took only a look in her eyes to confirm that. A total jerk. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that. I was an idiot."

“No.” She closed the book with strength. “You were an asshole and a pretentious prick” Ouch! He earned those qualifiers, but they stung, nevertheless. “But apologies accepted.” She smiled and his wound in the chest hurt more because he couldn’t have her smiling at him like this forever. “What are you going to do to make amends?”

_Kiss you senseless pinned in my library, and then drag you to my room to make you whatever you want._

He had to stop thinking those things. It wasn’t good for him or his relationship with her. Most partly him. He wanted something he couldn’t have. He had to respect her wishes. She showed strongly enough that she didn’t want to be near to his body.

_“Are you sure?”_ said a traitorous voice in his head, _“Because that kiss under the mistletoe said another thing to me.”_

He waved the invisible little demon at one side of his head and answer the question Rey had questioned him a little too long time ago.

“I can make the dinner.” He smiled. “I’m a good cooker.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I accept the challenge of eaten whatever you will cook if isn’t pasta, rice or pizza.”

He looked at her outraged.

“I’m not a student anymore!”

FUCK! He needed to find a recipe who didn’t contain any of those ingredients. ¾ of his cookbook to the rubbish bin. She challenged him at every step, why she had to be in a relationship who wasn’t with him?

He went to his refrigerator. It was pathetic! He could have screamed inside and he would had have an eco-back. His student times refrigerator was fuller. But he saw some things that could save them, hoping she wasn’t vegan.

“Ok, I can make you a good steak, with rock salt and butter over it when it’s cooked. And as an accompanying, sautéed vegetables. What do you think?”

Please don’t be vegan, please don’t be vegan, please don’t be vegan or he should have to go to the groceries to buy a lot of things. He will, don’t misunderstand him, but he would prefer to stay at home with her.

“Yes, it would be lovely.”

He was saved! Ben began to prepare the ingredients in the kitchen and Rey came to him, looking how he worked. He thought he would be nervous, but he was calm and relax. He wanted to do that to her every day. The calm he felt moving through the kitchen with her looking at him was overwhelming. He couldn’t understand how it was possible to feel so good with someone who you have met the day before.

Usually he didn’t like people seeing him cooking, it was a thing between his grandma Breha and him. When he was a little boy, his parents weren’t often at home, so he spent a lot of time with his grandparents. Grandma Breha and Abuelo Bail knew his other grandparents very well and spoke in very good term about them. They explained to him what they like to do and what were their passions. Is for that reason that Ben was an idiot fan of Tolkien and could argue with his mechanic over his car for hours. With the cooking it happened the same. Grandma Breha said that one of the favourites pastries of his grandparents were the home-made chocolate chip cookies. When he was six, she helped him to make them for his mother… He didn’t know she wouldn’t like them at all. Those cookies started the first of many fights at his parents’ home.

“You know? Everybody thinks that because I run a flower-shop I’m automatically a vegetarian or a vegan. It’s a pleasure that you offered me the meat.”

Rey’s voice extracted him of this bittersweet memory.

“Well… I have to be honest with you. I offered you the steak is because I haven’t enough in my refrigerator to do anything for you if you were vegan.” He smiled embarrassed.

She laughed very high. The weight he was feeling with the memory of his parents fighting and him cooking with his grandparents lift a little away.

“In this case, you can thank me by giving me the biggest part.”

“In your dreams. I’m bigger than you. I need more meat.”

He gave her the biggest part.

*******

Shortly after lunch, when they were cleaning the kitchen, someone rang the doorbell.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“As far as I know, no.”

He was surprised as she was. He opened the door and find a man he knew past the nineties, but he was still strong. All his past dark hair was now white, but he had conserved the goatee beard that Ben loved to have time to time. A brilliant smile illuminated Ben’s face.

“Abuelo Bail!” He hugged his grandfather, almost as tall as he.

“Ben! Espero no haber interrumpido nada.” (/I hope I haven’t interrupted anything) he said looking inside the room, and particularly at Rey.

“We just finished dinner.” He switched to the English for Rey. He let the man in. “Come, you are just in time for the coffee.”

“No se preocupen por la lengua, también hablo español.” (/Don’t worry about the language, I also speak Spanish). The two men looked at her surprised. “He traído rollitos de canela, ¿queréis?” (/I have brought cinnamon rolls, do you want?).

“It’s ok, I would love to hear your lovely English accent too. Please, cinnamon rolls are my weakness, young lady.”

Rey went outside the room for a moment and the grandfather looked at his grandson and said without a sound.

“I like her very much!” smiling and with the thumbs-up.

“Abuelo!” Ben didn’t know where to hide from the shame.

Rey came back with a box full of delicious cinnamon rolls.

“I made them myself a few days ago.” She said. “I hope they still good enough. The recipe was from an old book. There is maybe too much cinnamon, but it's my first attempt doing it.”

Ben had to remember how to think again. She showed them the box and the rolls were looking at him like daring to say they were bad. A fragrance of cinnamon attacked him, but he liked so much. Cinnamon was a little his childhood scent. After the cookie failure, Grandma Breha taught him how to make apple pies whit wild apples from the farmers markets, and she adored to put an extra dose of this spice. Rey excesses had made him smile.

“They look fantastic.” Ben said softly. “I’ll make coffee for everybody, decaf for you Abuelo, and we can eat them.”

“Who said I need decaf?!”

“Just your doctor and all your nurses.”

Ben didn’t even look at him, he was preparing two Bialetti: one small for his grandfather and another bigger for him and Rey.

“I would make hell with them when I came back. Decaf! I don’t need decaf!”

“You are already the Satan of the nursing home, Abuelo.”

“Excuse me…” The two men looked at Rey. “What is that?” She pointed out the two Bialetti in the fire.

“You have never seen this?” She denied. “It’s a Bialetti. It’s a coffee machine. You put the water on the base part and the coffee in the filter in the middle. With the heat, the boiled water would pass through the coffee and make drinkable coffee. Is the best way to make coffee.”

“The most pretentious if you ask me.”

If looks could kill, his Abuelo would have been killed on the spot. 

“Ben… is that…?”

The old man looked closer the ancient Bialetti that Ben was using to make the coffee for him and Rey. A cold sweat ran down his back. Both knew too well what he was using. It was the old Bialetti that Ben had inherited from his Grandma Breha, one that was old fashioned and need special skills to use, ones Ben took years to master.

Abuelo Bail said nothing, but in his shark-like smile Ben knew that he had been spotted and he hadn’t heard the end of this, not by a long shot.

After a short time, the coffee was ready, and he served their own to everyone. He was very curious to see Rey’s reaction.

“Is the strongest coffee I have drink in a long time! It’s delicious!”

A warm smile appeared in Ben’s face. He loved making coffee in the Bialetti machine. It gave to the coffee the strong hit he needed to continue to work. Abuelo Bail then begins his attack to her.

“So, Rey, tell me, a beautiful woman like you, any boyfriend?”

Ben wanted to kill his Abuelo, _again_. Rey had the decency to laugh at the indiscreet question of his grandfather.

“Abuelo!! Is none of our business! And she could have a girlfriend too, you know?”

“Of course I know!” He waves his hand as the remark wasn't significant at all. “The important thing here is knowing if she's single or not.”

Ben wanted to die! Well, to be more specific, he wanted to kill his grandfather and then kill himself, all to avoid the embarrassment he was suffering thanks to the oldest member of his family.

“Abuelo! Again: none of our business.”

He split up every word to make him clear. In Rey’s defense, she was taken this interrogation about her private life very well: she was smiling all the time. Ben took a few seconds to hang on her smile. It was beautiful as the sun rising in a cold morning. It irradiated all his dining room with a warm warmth which took his breath away. He would have asked her in a heartbeat if she would have allowed him to wake up every morning with that smile. But he knew it, he knew her heart was stolen by someone else. That was the reason also he didn't want her to answer that simple question, he already knew. He was sure that for her it would be only something a little embarrassing to say, for him it was painful as a knife in the heart.

“It’s ok, Ben. I don't mind.” Ben wanted to flew to the other side of the planet just for not heard what she was about to say. He fixed his cinnamon roll like a lifeline. “In fact, Bail” His Abuelo had insisted that she called him that way, under the menace to not speak to her anymore if she continued to address him as Mr. Bail. “I’m a widow.”

Ben looked at her eyes open. His body shifted very subtly towards her. A very primal instinct wanted to wrap her in his arms and not let her go under any circumstances. But he was over those instincts. He knew she was a powerful woman who didn’t need anyone to stand for her and show to the world what was she capable of. And obviously, she didn’t anyone to nursed her like a baby. What doesn’t mean he didn’t want to do it, more now he knew she was suffering from a broken heart. He knew, as everyone in his family who cares, what a broken heart, caused by the lost of someone who you deeply love, can do.

Ben approached his hand to hers, but without touching it. He saw that she looked at it.

“He died of one of those incurable diseases that only left you with the possibility to see you love one wither like a flower. He was strong, but not that strong…” Ben could hear the pain in her voice. He just wanted to embrace her to heal that suffering. “I came to this city for a change of scenery.” She looked at him directly at his eyes. “But I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

You know that scene in the Fellowship of the Ring where Boromir is riddled by Uruk-Hai’s big arrows? Well, Ben’s heart was in that state at that moment. Rey was telling him that she wasn’t totally indifferent to him, but she couldn’t be with him because she didn’t feel strong enough to be with someone… Ok, fuck everything and fuck those primal instincts!

“Of course you are.” He couldn’t stop himself to smile at the evidence. He didn’t know where he knew that, but he was certain of was he was saying. “Never let anyone tell you otherwise. And if someone says it, kick they ass so hard that they would have your boot print in this life and the next.”

A little sigh left Rey’s lips when she smiled. She looked at him like she wanted to kiss him. Or at least it was what Ben wanted to see. He lifted a hand and put a lock of hair behind her ear. He wanted to stay in this moment, even with his grandfather looking at them. Everything was at peace.

But even those moments have an end, and this one came with the sound of a phone. He took the line he had connected to his kitchen and answer.

“Master Ben!”

It was the worried voice of Anthony. He was a third generation of butler in his family. No, don't ask about lines of butlers in his family.

“Don’t worry about Abuelo Bail, he's with me.”

Ben wasn't sure if that would be enough to calm the poor man. He was sure Anthony was born worried.

“I’m not. He informed correctly the nurses about his whereabouts.”

“Then what it's?”

“It is Master Anakin. He had a heart attack this morning. He is at the General Hospital. They don't think he would pass the night.”

Suddenly, all the peace Ben had felt with Rey vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That it's! Yes, he’s still alive (for now) xD couldn't resist. Hope you have loved Ben’s POV. Next time we come back to Persephone’s. I'm going to switch to one and other during all fic.
> 
> Ben and Bail would speak Spanish again (I’ve used Jimmy Smits origins for Bail). Tell me if. It's complicated to read the parts in Spanish and their translation next to it.
> 
> Btw this is a [Bialetti](https://miro.medium.com/max/3952/1*ZSipFDkL7OmH4ZavubpsdQ.jpeg) and yes, it's a really strong and good way to make coffee...
> 
> I can't say much things to avoid spoiler, but this I can: it would be a HEA! I have suffered enough with TROS. My babies are going to have their happy ending. How? Keep reading 😏🤣
> 
> Thanks for your lovely comments, they give me life. Until next week!


	5. Chapter 05: Anakin Skywalker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben arrives at the hospital to see his grandfather. We learn what had happened with Anakin. We met more characters... dark ones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. During all August I’ll not being at home. The release schedule could be a little alternate. But I’ll try to have a chapter a week.
> 
> Trigger warning!! Mention of children being killed. It's only a mention, not description, but the metode could be hard. That's why I prefer to warn. It would be between two 🦋. It's the story of Anakin. If someone can't see the butterfly warnings, tell me, I would find another method. I want this to be a safe place for everyone . Don't hesitate to tell me if I don't warn you well. 
> 
> With that, enjoy the reading.

Persephone had to force Ben to sit in his car and drive herself back again to the hospital. Apollo would be worried if he saw them again, but it was an emergency situation. Has much as she had understood, one of the grandfathers of Ben had been hospitalized because of a heart attack. She knew that thing very well. It had killed a lot of healthy people all around history, and sometimes it has been the perfect excuse for a murder.

She parked close to the hospital.

“Go to see your grandfather. Bail and I will reach you as soon as I found a parking place. Promise.”

Ben looked at her completely in distress. He was very afraid about that member of his family. Persephone couldn't think about the last time she was preoccupied in that way about one of hers. She was glad that _Master Anakin_ had such a loving grandson.

She smiled at him and he nodded. Then, Ben ran to the hospital and she left with Bail. He had accompanied them because he was one of the last men alive who knew the other grandfather, in his own words. If something had to happen, he wanted to be there, at his side.

“So, you knew well the other grandfather of Ben?” Persephone tried to make a little conversation.

“Ben had three grandfathers. His mother was adopted, so she had her biological father and her father. I’m the father, Anakin is the biological. Though I’m sure he would have been a great father who have loved his children above all.”

Persephone smiled at this idea. Her own father was a cold-hearted scumbag who never loved and didn't care about her. Seeing that love for his daughter in the eyes of the man restored a little faith for the humans the heart of the goddess.

🦋

They parked not too far away from the hospital and Persephone accompanied very patiently Bail in his slow march. At the entrance they asked for the room of the patient and she could finally hear the name of man: Anakin Skywalker. Gosh! Even she had heard about him! The story was terrible. After believing his wife and unborn child were dead, Anakin fell into madness and made an entire kindergarten explode. The kids would have had the age of his unborn children. He stood very close to the explosion with the intent to die in it. He was burned in almost ninety percent of his body, but he was saved and arrested. Sheev Palpatine, an old friend of the family, achieved to interned him in a sanitarium, with the allegation of insanity. It was only twenty years later that all was discovered: Palpatine manipulated Anakin to make him believe his children died in childbirth as their mother. Seeing the explosion at the kindergarten, the friends who hid the children, two twins a boy and a girl, from their father didn't have the courage to say the truth. It all came out when they reach adulthood and were strong enough to face Palpatine. Today, Sheev Palpatine was dead, of a heart attack, the twins had a successful life and everything seemed to be good. Anakin passed all his life in a hospital bed. The rumor said that his son, Luke, visited him sometimes.

🦋  
  


When they arrived in the room, she intended only to open the door to Bail and leaving them to their privacy, but something dragged her inside. She saw Ben seated on the edge of the bed, taking the hand of the person in it. She couldn't see the patient well. He was covered in awful burns and some scars crossed his face. He had lost all his hair and now he wasn't even conscious. He breathed thanks to a machine who made loud sounds. Ben didn't hear them, he was concentrated in the man lay on the bed. Persephone saw the rays of the sun filtering through the curtains of the room and hitting the two men. It was an incredible image to see, like a Sorolla painting.

Then a wind blow opened the windows of the room in a violent stroke. Ben and the nurses ran to close them up. No one paid attention to that wind, why it had stroke with that power just the moment she had entered the room. Normally, she wouldn't have either. Persephone was what is called a Chthonic goddess, a goddess attached to Gaia, to the Earth. Daughter of Demeter, spouse of Hades and goddess of the Spring, she hadn't anything to do with the wind. But she was old and wise enough to recognise when something was supernatural; and that wind divine.

Her suspicious were confirmed when two men entered the room running. One was her brother Apollo, now known as Doctor Poe Dameron. The other was an old friend and associate of her husband. He had a beard which covered all his mouth, Auburn hair with a side parting and was dressed all black. That day he had something close in the Japanese style, but she didn't quite pinpoint the origin. What she could see, but never a human, were his eyes: the iris were yellow and the pupil red.

He smiled at her and did a little bow with his head. At the end of the day, and until proof to the contrary, she was still his boss.

“Mistress.”

“Thanatos. Brother.”

Yes, you have read right: the incarnation of the death had entered the room, and she was his mistress.

“What have we felt?” Apollo was quite unsettled. For the god of prophecies, that was something.

“I don't know. I entered the room and a powerful wind opened the windows. A divine wind.”

Thanatos was looking intensely the man on the bed.

“He’s strange. In a normal situation, Hux and I would have retreated his soul a long time ago. But nothing indicates me that he has to die soon.”

Hermes was the god of many things. His most famous attribute was being the god of the messengers or god of the thieves. But he was also god of the orators, and therefore god of lawyers. What made him so close to her and Thanatos was his attribute of Psychopompos, literally soul-carrier. After Thanatos killed someone, Hermes guide them until Charon's boat, who will travel them to the Underworld.

“He’s burned in ninety percent of his body, had a heart attack this morning and he's seventy-six year old.” with her position as ruler of the Underworld she can knew a lot of details of people “How can he not be close to death?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m as blind as you are...” Thanatos looked at Apollo.

“He’s a mystery to me too. And I don't have to remember you that the expert in rare things is my son Aesclepius, I’m just the weird guy who knows a lot of medical things.”

“And is responsible for most of the deadliest diseases of history.” She remembered him. Apollo had the guts to look proud of it. “Thanatos, you think that man is protected by another divinity?”

“After being in a bed all his life? It could be, gods are cruel.”

Persephone knew he was right and she was one of the rare exceptions for him: she wasn't cruel, she applied the textbook to the letter.

“One of us?” Asked her brother.

“I couldn't say. I haven't met our great-grandfather, Ouranos. So, I can't say what a wind of our own could feel like.”

“Don’t look at me either. I never met him before he was defeated.” Thanatos thought a little, “The only one who could maybe remember he is your grandmother, Rhea. If you have the guts to ask her...”

Persephone and Apollo looked at each other. If their recently liberated aunt Hera freaked them out, it was nothing compared to their grandmother. Rhea was the one who stood by the side of Cronos when he decided to accept Gaia’s offering to rebel against their father, she was the one who comes with the plan to hide Zeus and raise him to become the perfect match to Cronos, she's the one who is looking over all the other gods to avoid a new Cronos or Ouranos in the family. If someone is respected, it is that matriarch.

“I’m not going.” hastened to say Apollo.

“Not feeling that brave, Mr. I-Fought-The-Python-When-I-Was-In-Diapers?”

“Look, sister, I would rather prefer to face a dozen of Pythons before of our Grandma.”

“She can't possibly be that awful.”

“Last time I saw her, she said that Kaydel remembered herself very much and I remembered her our grandfather.”

Something inside Persephone boiled with all the fires of the Etna. Apollo could be a hothead and impulsive man, most time guided more by his heart than by his head, but he wasn't a bad man. And if something her grandfather was it was a bad man.

“Don’t worry, brother. I’m going to have a little chat with our grandmother and she will discover who really is like _The Twisted One_.”

Apollo smiled sweetly at her. She could say he was relieved not to have to go to the woman. Persephone was already planning all the terrible things she was about to say to the old mummy when she heard a voice.

“I don't know you, nieto, but I wouldn't want this woman as my enemy. In fact, I would really like to have her on our side.”

Persephone choked. She had completely forgotten about Ben and Bail being in the room with all the fuzz with the divine wind and her grandmother. She hoped that none of them had really heard anything about them being gods. Well, in her experience, no one was going to believe them if they had heard something, but she preferred not to be taken as a crazy person by Ben. He looked at her very seriously.

“If you look for places to hide bodies, I have contacts. But if you need a lawyer, a team of me and Hux has to be lethal.”

She smiled at Ben. She liked the idea of them fighting together in a court.

“If someday you made that team, you have to tell me. It has to be a view worth to behold.”

Ben was about to say something more, but someone entered the room. He was old and creepy. She remembered her an old raisin left in the sun too much time. Tall and wrinkled, he looked everyone with disdain. It was something she didn't like. That kind of look. She didn't know if she despised more in humans or gods, but you can't possibly look at other persons like they were nothing. It only fuelled her desire to punish this hubris.

“John Snoke” Thanatos whispered in her ear, “Him being here cannot be good.”

“This room is crowded.” his voice was more powerful than expected.

“Yeah, you can say that.” Bail looked directly to him. He was very clear to whom he thought he was over at the room.

If looks could kill, Bail would have died on this instant. Snoke didn't like to see him there and certainly didn't like to see the three of them either. The ambience in the room rose like it was pushed under pressure. She knew that man was Ben’s boss. She didn't know what he was doing there, but she didn't want to bring him problems.

“Bail, I’m going to the cafeteria. As the coffee here are certainly not make by a Bialetti, do you want something else, like a tea or a fruit juice?”

“I would spare you the horrors of a hospital tea. Can you bring me a fruit juice? Pineapple, please?”

“Of course,” she smiled at him. “Ben?”

“I’m alright, thank you.”

She was about to leave the room without another word when Snoke stopped her.

“And who are you supposed to be, young girl?”

She turned to him. If Ben and Bail hadn't been there, she would have shown him who is the young between the two of them and she would have taught him to show some respect to the others. The way he talked infuriated her to levels she hadn't experienced in centuries. Real Underworld punishments passed by her eyes before taking a deep breath and saying with a smug smile.

“ _Ego sum nemo_.”

And she left the room. Twenty minutes later she was in the cafeteria line alone. Thanatos and Apollo had returned to their duty after threatening Snoke to the worst. Persephone had convinced them that he wasn't worth their concern, but she wasn't sure that Snoke would not have a serious pneumonia this winter and when his time will come, Thanatos will remember him how he has treated his mistress. He had a very good memory. They didn't say anything, but the look in Thanatos eyes said that they have to talk, not only about the divine wind, but also about Ben. He also recognized Hades in that human and need to talk to the only person who knew him as well as him.

She was in the queue, waiting for her turn to pay for Bail’s fruit juice and her chocolate muffin when she heard a voice from behind.

“Master Bail said he would pay for all. He asks if you would want to join him.”

Persephone turned and saw a man in his seventies, white hair, short cut, formally dressed, gentle smile but a little too uptight. She deduced he was Anthony, Ben’s family butler.

“It’s ok, I’m almost at the end.”

“I insist.”

Persephone knew too well the tone of the butler: he didn't accept a no as an answer. She had to let Anthony at the queue with her items and go where Bail was. Even being a goddess couldn't have saved her from that fate. She seated at Bail’s table with a smile.

“Your butler is very persuasive.”

“Oh, is not my butler. He serves Ben’s family, but not me.”

“Oh?” She couldn't imagine Anthony working for the Solos. She really needed more explanations.

“Anthony’s grandfather began to work for Padmé Amidala a long time ago. Anthony is the third generation in that job. They don't work for the Organas.”

“Ah!”

She understood. From Padmé they passed to work to Leia or Luke, her children, and then to Ben.

“Will there be a fourth generation?”

“Yes, but not now. Anthony’s son, Finn, is still too young and inexperienced. He just left the army a few months ago. He has still a lot to learn before coming to work with his father. But in the future? Yes, of course.”

“You didn't have to pay for the fruit juice. I was about to bring it.”

“It was a thank you. To shut the mouth up to that monster of Snoke. I’m sure he still hasn't understood the reference!”

Persephone was trying to not smile. _**Ego sum Nemo**_ had two translations that ended in a well-known pun. In the Odyssey, when the Cyclop Polyphemus asked to Odysseus, who was he, in the Latin version he answered that. The first translation was the one which Polyphemus took: I’m Nemo. But the other one was the intended one: I’m no one / I’m nobody.

“He wanted to talk to Ben?”

“Yes, about Anakin.” A serious look appeared in his face. “Being so close to death, he needed to be there as his lawyer and person in charge.”

“And that couldn't be Ben?”

“He’s trying to make the changes; secretly and without Snoke knowing nothing. Is not that easy, he has a lot of connections everywhere.”

“How he has got that position? A man so unconnected to your family?”

“He was the only heir of Palpatine. He inherited everything from him: his positions, his duties, his charges. Theoretically, he’s the owner of half the law firm where he works. And only until Anakin dies. Then, everything will go to Anakin’s children.”

“And like Luke Skywalker doesn't have any children, and unless he made a surprise on his will, everything will end in Ben’s hands.”

“Sooner than you think. Luke has already publicly said that he didn't want anything with the firm who caused the doom of his parents, so when he inherited his part, he will give it directly to Ben. Leia is a senator, she's not interested in having her share of the firm. She preferred to see it in the hands of someone who knows the deal. So the day of Anakin’s death will be the day of Ben being the owner of the law firm where he works.”

Persephone whistled.

“And Snoke hasn't done anything to discredit him? Make him look mad has his grandfather?”

“Many times. But Ben is smarter. Inside the firm he could have a bad reputation, but he works in the social department. He doesn't work in big cases; he works in little cases of normal people; and doesn't accept a shit from others. He cultivates an image close to his grandmother Padmé with an inch of the ferocity of his grandfather Anakin: people love him, newspapers love him, and he never loses who he is. Snoke is so far away that he can't understand him, and therefore can't beat him.”

Bail was about to say something more when she heard a fuzz outside of the cafeteria.

“This is a hospital! I’ll not tolerate a scandal!”

She recognised her brother’s voice. Apollo don't usually raise his voice, so she worried when she heard it. She ran out of the cafeteria and saw the strangest image: Ben and Snoke looking like they wanted to throw each other apart and Poe in the middle, with a very serious glance.

“You will bitterly regret this, Solo.”

“I’m regret didn't do it before.”

Ben’s voice was powerful but calm. She recognized the tone from when he was Hades. It was never a good sign. By the Poe’s eyes, he recognized the tone too.

“This would have consequences.”

“Don’t threaten me, Snoke.”

“It’s not a threat.”

And he stormed out.

[ ](https://ibb.co/2v5X8Vy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all!
> 
> For those who have jump the trigger warning my Anakin followed a very similar path of the canon one: Padmé died, he think Luke and Leia too (manipulated by Palpatine), he goes nuts, make terrible things; afraid of those things, their friends hide his children. Years later Luke and Leia confronts Palpatine. No need to read the trigger if it affects you.
> 
> This is one of the [Sorolla Paintings ](https://ibb.co/BHJhsq5) I was thinking about when I was describing the hospital chamber. His light was really another thing. If you ever had the chance to see a Sorolla, look at his light.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you have enjoy. Until next time!


	6. Chapter 06: cuddles and problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone talk seriously with Thanatos about Ben’s situation and a plan of action is decided. But there is someone who needs cuddles and someone who seems to know more than he says.
> 
> Persephone’s problems are far from ended...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I was outside... Everything!!! This chapter is a little longer than the others. It has some things very funny to write in it. Hope you’ll like them.
> 
> As always, thanks to my book club for their support and to all of you for your kudos and comments!! You make this fic incredible!

Ben stayed in the lobby of the hospital some time, looking at the entrance where Snoke disappeared. Persephone waited a little longer before touching his arm. He looked at her like she was some kind of supernatural being, come to Earth to help him. He wasn't wrong, at least not in a hundred percent: she was in fact not human.

“Can I ask you something very strange?” he said with a soft voice. “Can I hug you? Just a moment, without any further intention. Just a simple hug.”

He looked so utterly desperate and needing for what he was asking that she couldn't refuse him. And who wanted her to fool: she was craving for more contact with him, of any kind. Since the kisses from the day before, she couldn't stop to think about the sensation of him embracing her, kissing her, involving her with all his being. She took Cerberus for a walk in Central Park in a desperate try to forget Ben. That place was like a little forest in the middle of the city. It was a place which always calmed her, making her back to her origins as a nature goddess.

Cerberus was the most obedient dog she had ever met. Hades had trained him so well that he obeyed her orders without blinking. In theory, she couldn't take him with her, he should have been in the Underworld avoiding souls to escape, but he was so sad. Cerberus missed his master as much as she did. They understood each other, and he could take a normal dog size. So, when she came to the human world this last time, Persephone decided to take Cerberus with her.

In Central Park, he ran after the squirrels and played with the dead leaves. He acted like a normal dog in a normal walkie. Then he tensed and ran away from her. He had never done anything like this. And less, never stopped when she had ordered him to do it so. She understood why when she saw who Cerberus had spotted and had put on the ground. She gasped when she saw Ben Solo trying to understand what was happening. She wanted to apologize to his companion (of course, an absolutely gorgeous woman) and then she realized she knew her. It was one of her sisters. Lucky for her, Athena was always one who liked her and she advised Persephone about what to do.

That's the reason why she didn't understand how she ended in a hospital asked to be hugged by the man she was desperately trying to forget. She couldn't let Hades melt into Ben. Ben was him and it mattered little that he seemed to look at her with the despair she hoped Hades would have had if he had spent two millennia separated from her; it doesn't matter if Cerberus ran to him; and certainly it was nothing if she felted melting in his arms, in his kisses, in his eyes, in his scent: Ben wasn't Hades!

And for all those reasons, she accepted to hug him, because she was weak, she wanted no other thing than to feel it again. That bliss for melting into him, a pure fragrance of sandalwood, neutral soap, and something very hidden that only she could smell and was so genuinely him: the smell of the wet soil just after the rain.

She smiled at him. She didn't know what he had discussed with Snoke, but it must have been hard because Ben looked so tired and needed some kind of rest. She didn't want to believe she represented that rest for him, but if she could help him in any way…

“Of course you can hug me.”

He smiled, he smiled so genuinely at her answer that she felt she had given him more than a simple hug. He tried to not run to her, but she knew so well his movements that she saw his impatience to embrace her.

Ben’s arms were so large; they welcomed her like your home after a long day of hard work: warm and cosy. She had two options: return the embrace or stay there enjoying the pleasure to be surrounded and nursed by Ben. She knew he asked for this hug, so that would mean he needed to feel someone, her in this case, so she returned the hug and heard he made a little gasp.

She had chosen wisely.

**********

They stayed like that several minutes until she felt he didn't need her so desperately. She looked up and sink her eyes into his.

“Better?”

He took a little to answer.

“I would want to stay like that more time, but my grandfather is waiting for us in the cafeteria.”

And he separated himself from her. She wasn't going to admit to anyone, but it hurt her. She didn't want to be away from his touch, even if she knew it wasn't a good an idea. In fact, it was the worse of the world’s worse ideas.

Bail was waiting at the same table as before with the beverages. Anthony had added a Starbucks coffee for Ben.

“Anthony is in Anakin’s room.” Bail said, “He will protect him by boring any enemy to death. Don't worry.”

“« _You know what are the odds of you to succeed with this plan? 3720 to 1._ »”

“It’s not Anthony’s fault if your plans to escape home were always high.”

“I was seven!”

Persephone looked at him bewildered.

“You tried to escape from home at seven?”

“To be more correct, I tried to escape the rigid school where my mother had put me to fly away with my father in one of his adventures. Part of my plan failed, I never arrived at the airport. But my mother changed me from school after a serious discussion. My grandparents convinced my parents to hear what I have to say. I went to a public school, never be happier.”

“Parents should speak more often with their kids. It's 101 Parenthood.”

Persephone sighed.

“Sometimes it's not that easy…”

Bail looked at her.

“Problems with your mother?”

“How do you know it wasn't my father?”

“Call it grandfather instinct.”

“It’s been a long time since the last time I spoke to my mother. I should telephone her. My father… Well, he wasn't a good man, I just still can't understand how he seduced my mother.”

“Sometimes some pickup lines are the most awful, but at the right moment they are the most effective.” said Ben, “My grandfather Anakin had the record of the most awful pickup line in history.”

“It can't be worse than the one from my husband.”

“Want to bet? He says to my grandmother « _I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth_ ». It worked because they were in a romantic lake and he was caressing her in the arm with one finger.”

“And I bet he was handsome. That tactic can't work if you aren't handsome.”

“I have the photo of the marriage of Anakin and Padmé at home.” Bail intervened, “But you are right, he was very handsome, in his way.”

“And your husband?” 

Persephone looked at Ben’s eyes. She shouldn't have talked about that moment. It wasn't Hades best time. Just after abducting her, he made the most ridiculous marriage proposal: after kick the ass of an idiot who wanted to take his throne and against who she had helped him to defend. He didn't give her the option to return to the surface, he just wanted her to stay there with him. But in his defence, he hardly knew who she was.

“« _You come from nothing, you are nothing… but not to me._ »”

The two men looked at her eyes open. Bail took a long sip of his drink.

“Jamás he sido más feliz de ser un viejo viudo.” (/Never been happier to an old widow.)

“Si eso no pone la barra muy alta para el resto de los mortales….” (/If that doesn't set the bar too high for the rest of the mortals…)

Persephone didn't understand them. She thought it was one of the most awful marriage proposals she had ever heard and they treated it like a dream!

“I turned down this proposal, you know?”

“YOU WHAT?!”

Persephone turned and saw a group of five girls looking at her emotionally. Two were brunettes and three blonds, all around the thirties.

“You turned down that proposal? It was so romantic!” said one of the brunettes.

“Wait a moment,” said the other, “She said it was her _husband_ ’s pick-up line. So, they married afterwards.”

“Oh my God!!” exclaimed one of the blondes, one with long hair, “It’s totally a Pride and Prejudice situation. It's the first declaration, it had to be bad and awful.”

“Hey, girls!” Persephone had to intervene, “People’s real lives are not like in the books.”

“I’m correctly assuming that your husband is a dark and quiet man?” said a second blonde, with a cocky smile.

Persephone couldn't say anything, she was right. They continued to speak happily about that first proposal and the literary parallels. Persephone almost wanted to hide in the Underworld. Ben smiled with compassion.

“You see now why I said that he set the bar very high for other men?”

Hades set the bar so high to other men than only him could ever reach it, but she wasn't going to say it to him.

“Every relationship is a world, and every couple deserves its try. Never compare yourself with someone else. And if the other compare you with someone, that person doesn't deserve you. Everyone is special and deserves all the heart of the person they love… well, at least it's what I think.”

She heard a few little sighs behind her back and a whispered «now he’s going to ask her out» that she tried to ignore. But before Ben could try anything, a man came to their table. He was in his mid-fifties, had a white beard, and some muscles under the shirt. He looked like one of those weird hermits lost in a cabin in the woods or in the middle of the desert.

“Ben.”

“Uncle Luke!!”

Ben almost jumped from his chair and went to hug the man. That was Luke Skywalker?! She almost didn't recognise him. Last time she saw him, he was a skinny blond guy, in a black kimono, trying to make justice for his father. Persephone tried to blind herself into the group of girls, but failed miserably. Luke separated from his nephew and looked at her as he was seeing a ghost.

“Solaris?”

She was lucky to be trained at that.

“Wrong. That's my mother. I’m Rey. Nice to meet you, sir.”

Persephone used her most charming smile and tried to convince the most intuitive human she had ever known that she was her own daughter. He looked at her for a few seconds, like he didn't believe her. He knew it was impossible she was Solaris, she would have been the same age as he. But Luke Skywalker had always followed his intuition and Persephone knew it was telling him she was Solaris, no matter her aspect.

“Nice to meet you too, young girl.” His blue-grey eyes continued to analyze her, “I’m sure they have told you that a dozen times already, but you look like your mother at your age.”

He didn't believe her at all! It could be dangerous.

“Yes. As far as yesterday. Han Solo did. And then he presented to me his son, Ben.”

Luke laughed.

“And today, you knock him down.” He looked at his nephew, “Your mother has called me, Ben.” The young one let out a snort, “You call telling her you have been hit at the head and then the hospital is calling us telling our father has been entered because of a heart attack. You can't expect she didn't call me and stay at her house. Han is driving her here as we speak. How do you feel? Sincerely.”

“I’m fine!” His answer was tense. “She could have asked me that when I was on the phone if she was worried!”

“Your mother is a serious and sensible woman. She doesn't like to express her feelings. Look familiar?”

Ben was about to say something not very educated when they were interrupted, _again_ , but by Thanatos this time. Persephone didn't expect that.

“Excuse me. I would hate to interrupt you, but can I kidnap her a moment?”

All the presents were too bewildered to say anything. She excused herself a moment and exited the cafeteria.

“You are so lucky to be the Death. I would have killed you right at that moment. « _Kidnap me_ »? Are you mad?

He smirked.

“I couldn't stop myself, it was too tempting.” Ok, that was it, she was going to throw him into the Tartarus with Hermes. “But more seriously, we need to talk. About Anakin Skywalker, and his grandson who looks exactly like my late master.”

*********

They seated in the lobby. She wasn't sure she wanted to speak about those two men. It was all so confusing.

“Ben Solo and Anakin Skywalker are mortal. That I can assure you without a doubt.” began Thanatos.

“And I can't assure you that Ben Solo doesn't remember us. He looks at me like he was Hades and he had forgotten me, but now he was beginning to remember things. And there are some other things…”

“Like what?”

Thanatos was very intrigued, but Persephone just remembered the kisses and the feeling of Ben’s arms and she wasn't sure anymore she wanted to share that information with him.

“Have you any theory?” She swerved the attention.

He rested his back on the chair and made a movement very typical of him when he was thinking: he rubbed his beard with his right hand using the left for supporting the elbow.

“Demigods?”

Demigods!! She hadn't thought of them since the invention of the condom. Gods have been very careful about their children with humans. They were always so problematic. Since the condom a demigod has been something so rare that she wasn't sure if there was any in the world at the time. But Anakin Skywalker was born before. He fought during World War Two, with the grade of general at the tender age of twenty. And no one knew who his father was. It was the typical story of a demigod.

“For Anakin Skywalker, it could. No father, born in the 1920s, incredibly skilled in combat. All the ingredients to recognize a demigod. But Ben Solo? I’m not so sure. He’s very similar to his father, Han. And the aspect! How could he be so similar to Hades?”

“You’re going to talk to Rhea?”

“Yes. She walks among the humans since long before you or me. And she’s also Hades’s mother. Who better than her to solve the mystery about the Skywalkers?”

He agreed with her.

“You’re also going to mention Apollo?”

She looked at him seriously.

“Of course. And if she doesn't like what I think of it, she should haven't said anything.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“It’s incredible you still have the reputation of being a soft little thing.”

“The people associate me with Spring, with Kore, the young woman…”

He laughed dryly.

“When was the last time those people saw a teenager?”

“Rey!”

Persephone looked in the direction where the voice had called her and she saw Bail approaching.

“Bail. You are returning home?”

“Soon. I wanted to talk to you first, and with your friend here.” She looked at Thanatos puzzled. “Are you from the same family as a man who called himself Ben Kenobi but died about thirty-five years ago?”

Thanatos smiled.

“Of course. He was my great-uncle. He had a twin brother, Obi-Wan, my grandfather. Today the story repeats itself: my name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, in his honor, and I have a twin brother whose name is Ben Kenobi, in our great-uncle’s honor.”

Bail sighed.

“That’s why! You look exactly like your grandfather.” He sat beside Rey. “You know that my grandson is named Ben after Ben Kenobi? The first one! He took care of Luke when he had to be hidden from Anakin. Then, he sadly died shortly after revealing all the truth to him.” He sighed again, but he was smiling “He was a good friend.”

Persephone and Thanatos looked at each other. That was more than interesting information. This «Ben Kenobi» wasn't other than the twin brother of Thanatos: Hypnos, the god of Sleep. If he knew Anakin Skywalker when he was young, he could provide them with some intel.

Thanatos seemed to know what Persephone was thinking because he slightly moved his head in approval. He was going to talk to his brother while she was going to talk to her grandmother.

“And what do you want to say to me, Bail?”

“Oh, yes. Can you take Ben home? He's been terribly stressed by Anakin’s heart attack, Snoke visit and now his mother is disturbing him with unwanted attention. It's not that he doesn't want his mother to care about him, but it's been too much for him.” He looked at her like a little lamb. ¿“Me harías ese favor?” (/Would you do that favour to me?)

Persephone smiled defeated. She couldn't deny anything to any man in that family.

“Claro, Bail.” (/Of course, Bail) “I’ll drag him by the collar of his shirt if it's needed.”

“Something is telling me that he wouldn't say no to that.” Bail and Persephone looked eyes open to Thanatos. “What? You’re not going to say you haven't seen how he look at her?”

“So, you two are not…?”

“NO!”

The god of Death and the goddess of Rebirth were so horrified by the idea of someone thinking they could be a couple that they almost yelled that «no».

“Oh… It looked otherwise from the outside. Interesante. (/Interesting)”

Thanatos whispered to Persephone.

“I’ve lived long enough to see a matchmaker when I saw one. I’m not sure if it's a good idea to go with Ben Solo anywhere. At least, until we know you know what.”

She looked at him seriously.

“Thank you for your concern, but I made a promise. I’ll watch him for two days.”

His yellow eyes almost shined with a warning under them.

“In the morning of the third, I’ll come to pick you up. I don't care about his protests, or yours. Your safety comes first.”

“You are worse than a bodyguard.”

“In what concerns you, I’m the father with a sawed-off shotgun and a shovel.”

Bail Organa laughed at this statement; he had heard everything. They came back to the cafeteria at the table, which was more crowded than the last time. Persephone saw Luke talking to Han and Ben being stressed by his mother.

Leia Organa hadn't changed in essence. She was older, but her noble bearing was the same now at mid-fifties than at nineteen. She wore more jewellery and a sober dark dress, but if someone said to her that she was a queen, she would have believed them. And Persephone was a real queen.

Before approaching the table, Ben lifted his head, like he had sensed her arriving. He looked at her eyes and she could appreciate as all his features relaxing considerably. His eyes softened, and the shadow of a smile appeared on his lips. His shoulders went down and his breath calmed in a more regular pace. Wrinkles that were all over his face disappeared from it, and he looked again like the young man he was.

Persephone wasn't the only one to have noticed those changes. Leia followed her son’s gaze and found her. A glint of incredulity passed through her eyes and disappeared quickly. She wasn't a senator and the daughter of a senator for nothing, she knew how not show her emotions.

Bail kissed his daughter and saluted the other persons at the table, then he introduced her to Leia.

“I didn't know Solaris had a daughter. It's a shame, you could have been Ben’s friend since childhood.”

“Mother!”

Persephone and Thanatos looked at each other. Both knew that friendship was impossible, but they weren't going to say it so to Leia.

“Ben, are you coming to the dojo tomorrow?” Luke tried to change the conversation.

“What dojo?!”

Everyone looked at the voice. It was Apollo, a granola bar in the mouth, looking at them almost afraid.

“I’m not joking! «Dojo» means «martial arts». What kind of martial art do you practice?”

“Kendo.”

“Out of the question!! I’m forbidden you to have any more hit in the head!”

“And who are you supposed to be, giving him orders?” Leia was pissed, but Apollo didn't clench.

“Ah, yes, sorry: I’m Doctor Poe Dameron, Nice to meet you. I’m the idiot who has to assure your son is in good health. Rey, you were supposed to look at him. Get hit by a bamboo stick it’s out of the question.”

“It’s the first day of the year, I have to be at the dojo!” Ben began to raise his voice.

“I’m sure your sensei will excuse you when he would know you have been hit in the head. And they are doctor’s orders.”

“The sensei is here.” Luke seemed most amused by the situation.

“Ok, why don't we do this: he goes to the dojo, presents his respects to his fellow students and his sensei, but doesn't train?” Persephone looked at each part very seriously.

“It’s a very 50/50 deal. No one is left aside.” noticed Leia.

“Like the one Persephone had when she came back from the Underworld.” Noted Luke “Half of the year with her mother Demeter, the other half with her husband Hades.” He looked at the goddess very specifically. She didn't like it.

“Hades and Persephone…” Ben said thoughtfully. The three gods tensed, but he said nothing more. “I’m ok with the terms, if you're too, uncle.”

“Of course. Rey can bring you there.”

Persephone agreed. Luke worried her a lot. He seemed to know more about them that he wanted to say in public. Maybe the encounter in the dojo could be a good moment to make things clear between them. She had to speak with him in private.

For all the gods! She had to speak with a lot of people about a lot of things: her grandmother, Luke Skywalker, Hypnos, the problem with Anakin, Ben and his similarity with Hades, she had also to take back Cerberus from Kaydel. The list never ends.

In the middle of her stress, she heard a voice calling her. She looked up and saw Ben’s eyes. He smiled softly.

“Shall we go home?”

She smiled.

“Yes, let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! Nxt time they would be at home 😏 What would happens? I have absolutely no idea 🤣 But those two left alone in a house for 32 hours....


	7. Chapter 07: The call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben came back to his apartment. They get close to one an another until someone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to warn you about this chapter but it would be spoiler so, I’ll thank you all for the kudos, the comments and all the interactions with me, it's so great!
> 
> Enjoy this, being me completely cracking down

Ben entered at his apartment laughing.

“I swear it, I’ve known a lot of scary people in my life, I’m a lawyer, but your sister Kaydel, takes the cake. I’ve never been more afraid of a look.”

Rey entered right behind him wearing one of her devastating smiles.

“Well, she’s Poe’s twin sister.”

What?!

“Are you kidding me?! They can’t be! My mother is the twin sister of Uncle Luke. One is blond and the other a brunette and they are more alike than Kaydel and Poe.”

“Ben, two twins who have different genders can be different between one another… NO! Cerberus! Out of the couch!”

Before coming back to his apartment, they decided to come back for Cerberus. The poor dog was so happy to be back to his mistress that Ben couldn't be mad at him for jumping and running all around his place. Rey followed him, trying to make him be good, but in Ben’s opinion, that's what a good dog looked like. 

The scene was endearing. Something inside of him melted at the sight of those two running all around his apartment. He wanted to have this every day. He wanted to have Cerberus at his home, running all over because he was excited about a squirrel he saw at the park or Rey being mad at him because he had brought a stick too big for him. 

“Cerberus, sit down.”

And miraculously the dog obeyed him and sat in the dining room, moving the tail quickly. Rey looked at both in a very murderous way. She said something in a language Ben didn't understand, but he picked up the meaning. Someone was in trouble.

“Don’t be mad at him. He has obeyed, doesn't he?”

“Have you understood what I have just said?”

“No.” He smiled softly at her, “but not need of. I can read between the lines.” She seemed to be tranquilized by his answer. “What language it was?”

“Greek.”

“You talk to your dog in Greek?”

“Yes.” She petted the animal’s head, “My father had Greek roots and my mother wanted me to, at least, know the language. It was funny to train Cerberus, who gets his name from a Greek dog, in Greek.”

Ben smiled at Rey. What she didn't know was that he had some notions in Greek as well, and he didn't understand a word of what she had said. But something was telling him that she wasn't entirely lying at him, so what happened? Why couldn't he understand nothing? Even if he was sure that it was a language not so far away from Greek. Maybe a Slavic? No, they didn't have Ancient Greek roots like Greek...

“Ancient Greek...”

“You have said something?” 

Rey looked at him from his kitchen. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't see her going there.

“Nothing important... Rey, what are you doing in the kitchen?”

“You have made lunch, I’ll cook supper. If it's ok for you?”

She looked worried. 

“Of course! But I was planning to call for pizza.”

“From one of those hideous places where they served you a half cold thing they have the guts to call pizza?? Over my dead body! Tomorrow, I will bring you to the best pizza restaurant in the city. And they accept dogs!”

“Let me guess, the place is owned by one of your siblings.”

“No, but he's an old friend of the family. And if he ever hears about you eating an ordered pizza, you can prepare yourself for a run. Not exaggerating.”

“Miss Jones, your acquaintances are more dangerous than mine, and I’m a lawyer.”

“You’ve already said that.”

“Well, I repeat it. I thought I would find the most dangerous people in the city. I think I went wrong with the job; I should have been a florist.”

“We can be dangerous.”

“Never underestimate a florist.”

She laughed at his joke. She was moving in his kitchen like she knew every part of it. It was like seeing a prima ballerina doing a private performance in your own house. She moved smoothly and light like the air, but she seemed to know where everything was. Ben could pass the rest of his days looking at her, and he had met her the day prior. Something was wrong with him. He has never felt that ease with someone in his life. He was usually a difficult person to approach. All his previous relationships had said that so. Some, even, have never put a foot in his house. But he met Rey and it was like lightning. He felt instantly comfortable with her, like she was an old friend who knew every secret of him and appreciated him more for that. 

In a moment, she looked at him and she smiled softly. Something inside melted. He liked that smile so much. He didn't know how he was going to achieve it, but he wanted to see that smile every day. She had said she had come to New York for a new beginning, and she had also said that comparison wasn't fair, so _maybe_ he could hope she wouldn't compare him to that mysterious dead husband of hers. 

The husband was also a very dark point. Who was he? How was he? Of what he died? How long has he been dead? She was quite young, he had to be a high school sweetheart. Those are awful to forget! They are usually childhood friends who had evolved into first loves… He was fucked! How he was going to beat that? She was still in love with him. Ben could say it. The only reason Rey was looking at him was because that man, who he didn't even know the name, died of a mysterious illness. Nothing more! She wouldn't have given him a single glance if hadn't been the case...

Ok... STOOOOOP! Stop the destructive thinking! He had the tendency to always think poorly of him and see the world in darkness. He had to try something positive. Like Rey in his kitchen, cooking.

“What are you cooking?” he asked, trying to forget his black thoughts.

“Something light: omelette and some sautéed vegetables. We haven't gone to the grocery store and your fridge is emptier than this afternoon.”

“No need for something light.” He was a big man, he needed energy. 

“You are not doing anything strong tonight, so no need for an extra amount of energy,” she said, touching his nose with one of her fingertips and coming back to her work in the kitchen.

It took Ben a few moments to connect again his brain after that. It has been the sweetest and, at the same time, the hottest thing he has ever seen. He got down to Cerberus’s level and whispered to the dog.

“And what did she would say if I pinned her against the kitchen table and fuck her senseless all night? I would need that energy, don't I?” he looked at the dog, who was moving the tail happily, “You are not helping, Cerberus!”

He got back at his feet. A caveman part of him wanted to do what he said, but he was raised otherwise. He took a deep breath.

“Can I help with something?” he needed a distraction that wasn't Rey moving in his kitchen. Man! Sometimes he was like a teenager.

“Can you set the table, please?”

He could do that. He refrained himself from getting the candles and the silverware that he was sure his mother had hidden somewhere in his apartment, but, when he had finished, the table was more elegantly settled than in the past few months. At least, it wasn’t covered by layers of currents dossiers and you could say the color of it (dark brown if you must ask).

“Wao!” Rey exclaimed, “Where did you hide the chandeliers?”

“Anthony didn't have the time to polish them, so I didn't put them.” She looked at him unsure. “It’s a joke! No chandelier, a normal table.”

“« _A normal table_ »? You haven't seen mine those days.”

“Hey, today you have the immense honor to see the wood of mine. Usually, it's only papers and a tiny spot to put the dish.”

Rey laughed and returned to the kitchen. He let himself look at her direction and smile like an idiot. He liked the sound of her laugh so much. 

A few minutes later, Rey called him. He entered the room and had to try very hard to not laugh at the situation. She was in her tiptoes, trying to reach a bowl that was at the top of a cupboard. He didn't mind putting all his tableware in high places because he measured 6’3”. He could reach any place. But not Rey. She couldn't reach the bowl she needed. He was tempted to let her manage the situation a little longer, but he couldn't. He approached her very close from behind and took the bowl, he barely had to straighten the arm.

He didn't plan the situation, but she froze when she felt him. They were so close to each other that he could smell her hair. And she smelled so well: flowers and citrus... And maybe... maybe it was his imagination, but she smelled also as one of his preferred smells in the world: wet soil after the rain. 

She turned and looked at him in the eyes. They were pleading, but for what? Him to bend and kiss her? To stop whatever he was doing? He didn't know. The only thing he knew was he was carving again for those lips he had kissed the day before; for her fingers to be buried in his hair; for her petite body, who seemed to be the missing piece for his too big body to fit in the world. But he knew he couldn't ask for all of this. She had made herself very clear. And nevertheless, her eyes were howling for something.

“Is that what you wanted?” even for his ears, his voice sounded harsh and rough.

“Yes, this is it,” she said at the same time she let go the air she had retained for a long time in her lungs.

“Oh, to Hell!”

Ben let the bowl at one side and took Rey with both arms. He kissed her with the passion and desire that was consuming him since the day before. He was sure she would slap him at the second and make her dog chew his balls, but he continued, for all he cared. But she didn't even make a sound of surprise. She hung up on him and returned his kiss with the same fierce and vigor. She buried her hands in his hair, as he liked so much. He pinned her at the working table without stopping kissing. Her lips were exactly how he remembered them: soft, engaging, delicious, demanding. He couldn’t stop kissing her, it was a primal necessity he didn't know he had inside. Like he was starving for so long he had forgotten when all of this had begun. 

Ben decided Rey was too low for his taste, so he took her by her waist and sat her on the table. She didn’t lose any moment and launch herself back to him when she was settled. Her legs parted at the level of his hip. She was gripped at his shoulder by one hand and the other seemed to can't leave his hair, not that he was going to complain about it. He brought her close to his body putting a hand on the end of her back. The other was rising from her knee to her thigh, lifting her beautiful dress. 

He was about to ask her to move to a much more comfortable place when a sound began to be heard. It took several seconds, and a very dumb look, to understand it was the kitchen phone. He didn’t understand what stopped him to rip that fucking thing off of his wall. 

“It's ok,” Rey whispered. NO! It wasn’t! He was about to _murder_ whoever was calling him. “We can continue later.”

Ok, that sounded much more interesting. With a dark growl, he detached himself from Rey and took the call. It was a desperate Mitaka. Mitaka was the intelligent intern who discovered the secret code in the archives of his law firm. He was lucky to be him. Any other would have owned an insult and the end of the phone call.

Mitaka was calling because Snoke was in the building, giving orders to anyone, moving papers that weren’t him to move and scaring the poor boy.

“Ok, you know where I live?” Without a surprise, the young man knew it. “Good! Take all the files we have been working on and bring them here. If you need help, call detective Phasma, she knows all about the case. But don’t tell her you are the lead. You’re safer that way. Someone will be here waiting for you. I trust her.” He looked at Rey. She doesn’t look pleased with his plan. “Mitaka, I need you to understand this: if Snoke discovers you, run! I don’t care about the files. This man is dangerous. Your life is worth more than a few papers. You have understood me?”

He did and hung up the phone. Ben turned to Rey. He needed her collaboration; what he was about to do was completely nuts. 

“You are going to go there and confront Snoke again, aren’t you?”

He smiled. How was possible that she knew him already so well?

“Someone has to stop him. And the firm was created by my grandparents _to help people_. I just _can’t_ let him appropriate all of it and do evil.”

“And what if you end up hurt? Take your own advice!”

She was worried about him. He came close to her and caressed her cheek.

“I’ll only serve as a distraction. Mitaka is bringing here all the munition. I have to be safe: I want to be the one who takes that sentient raisin down. I wouldn’t risk the pleasure to sue him and take my family company back for all the gold in the world.” He took her hands, “Can I ask you to be there to welcome Mitaka and protect him and the evidence?” She looked at him in a murderous way. “Promised, I’ll not put myself in danger. I’ll always be very far away from Snoke.”

She took his shirt very violently and brought his forehead to hers.

“If you get killed, I’ll destroy that raisin and then brought you back to life, torture you and kill you again. I made myself sufficiently clear?”

He tried very hard to not smile at the idea. He knew she was capable of that.

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Good.” 

And she kissed him again. It was a goodbye and gave strength kiss. Ben took her in his arms to have her at the same level. She kissed him with fierce and will. She glued herself to him for a last few seconds and when the kiss ended she whispered.

“I hate to be left behind, so don't do it.”

He remembered Rey was a widow. She lost her husband and had to live a life without the man she thought would be The Chosen One. He wasn't going to do that to her.

“After this night kisses? Ma’am, I’m coming back here faster than the roadrunner.” He gave her a little last kiss. “On my way to coming back.”

He separated himself from her, took his car keys, his coat and before leaving he took a last look.

“You look beautiful in my house. I hope I’ll look the same in yours.”

“Come back and we’ll figure it out together.”

“Promise.” and he left his home.

Ben leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. Then he heard a voice.

“ _Remember your promise._ ”

He turned the head and saw a man looking at him in the middle of the hallway. It was a young man, in his twenties, with wavy light brown hair. He had a scar close to his right eye. His look was tormented. And Ben knew why because he knew who he was!

He was stunned. How was it possible? He blinked a couple of times and the image disappeared.

“Great… I have visions now.” He put a hand on his face that progressively went to his hair. He exhaled a decided sigh. “I don’t have time to deal with the ghosts of undeath grandfathers.”

And he left the building in his car. 

*******

Ben was terribly concentrated on his future encounter with Snoke when he heard someone speaking beside him.

“ _I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t ignore me._ ”

“THE FUCK?!” 

He miraculously didn't have an accident in the middle of the street, but had to stop his car. Besides him, it was the same man he had encountered in the hallway. He was looking at him very seriously like it was the most normal thing to talk to a man in a coma. A man who supposedly was burned in ninety percent of his body and was seventy-six years old.

“How are you here?”

“ _No idea._ ” He looked like he really didn’t know how he had landed there, “ _If I have to be honest, the last thing I remember clearly is Luke dragging Palpatine into the mud. I’m not even sure who you are._ ”

“Your grandson! Leia’s son.” He put a hand on his face, “I don’t even have a proper spirit.”

“ _Hey! Proper spirit or not, I have ears. Where are you going now?_ ”

**_Worse.Spirit.Ever_ **

Those words illuminated in Ben’s mind like a neon banner in Times Square.

“I’m trying to go to what it’s left of your law firm to distract an evil raisin to take everything down and save a poor intern to die in horrible circumstances.”

“ _... Whaaaat?_ ” 

Anakin looked like Ben had explained the most incredible story. Ben was sure he was imagining Mitaka fighting a giant raisin in a robotic suit. Or worse: Mitaka being the damsel in despair and him the hero who had to save the damsel. He didn’t know what version was more horrifying.

“Ok, that’s what we are going to do. You don’t ask questions, you let me reach the building and help my coworker, and when all is done, I’ll explain all to you in the best of my capacities.” With the help of a drink or two, he wanted to say but he didn’t, “Deal?”

“ _Deal._ ”

And Ben could start his car again. In Anakin’s defense, he kept his promise. He didn’t say another word throughout the journey. What gave Ben time to think. How it was possible he could see and talk to the spirit of a man in a deep coma? Why had he appeared now and not in another moment? Why didn't he remember anything after Luke exposed Palpatine? Ben remembered a time when his grandfather was conscious and he spoke to him. And who can he reach to give him explanations?! Anakin seemed as lost as he. They would need to work together if that something meant to endure... And if he wasn't completely mad and having serious hallucinations, of course.

They arrived at the building a little later. It was an imposing and all-glass building.

“ _Padmé would have hated this place.”_

“Your first office was in Brooklyn in the forties. Nothing to do with that.”

“ _Of course. Brooklyn was my neighborhood. I knew the place, the people, how everything worked. Padmé was good with laws and she had the gift to be loved by everyone. Luke has inherited that from her._ ”

“Leia is more like you.”

“ _Devastatingly charming?_ ”

Anakin smiled. It was very weird because Ben didn’t find that smile in any of the twins, but he does in his own father. That fact gave him shivers in his spine.

“Awkward with people and ruthless.”

“ _Great! I gave my daughter the best part of me_.”

Ben could see he was sad. He recognized those sad eyes from having seen them every morning in his teenage years. He had to say something.

“You also gave her your love for family. That saves us from destruction. Another man like Palpatine came to destroy us, but we were too united to be separated. It was that family love who saved us.”

He smiled in a sad smile.

“ _Well, let’s save your damsel in despair. We can talk about family later._ ”

Ben raised an eyebrow.

“You know he is a man, don’t you?”

“ _Who cares?_ ”

And he walked into the building. He really owned the name of the “General without fear”, the one who always fought with his troops and always attacked first. Ben had to run after him for not losing him in the long hallways of the building. 

They arrived at the top floor, where Snoke's office was. Before entering, Ben took a deep breath and after, he opened the door. He surprised a lot of men with their arms full of boxes. Snoke was behind his desk reading some paper. When Ben entered the room, he looked up but didn’t make a single move or give an excuse for all the men. Ben used his best smile and said:

“Hello there.”

“Ben Solo.” 

“ _General Kenobi._ ” Anakin whispered at the same time as Snoke, with a deeper voice, like he was imitating someone in the same situation. Ben paid no attention to him. 

“You are bold to come here alone.”

“I wouldn’t have seen you in the middle of… what exactly?”

“None of your business.”

“Knowing that I’m now the legal supervisor of all the properties of my grandfather and I’m also the owner of half of this company by having inherited it by my grandmother, Padmé Amidala. Yes, they are _completely_ and _absolutely_ my business.

Ben saw a smile in Anakin’s face.

“What the fuck are you doing with those papers, Snoke? I’m demanding an explanation right now.”

“The only explanation I’m going to give you is this.”

Ben didn’t have the time to turn around that he felt a great pain in the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real Life sucks. I’m sorry for Rey and Ben. They were supposed to have a lovely evening, a romantic dinner, maybe cuddles in the couch. But instead they (and you) got this 🤣 Ghost!Anakin wasn't planned but I love him already. I’m sure if Ben was real he would look at me like he does in the moodboard 🤣 Things are moving and Rey would need to have those talks sooner than she thinks.  
> Stay stunned for the next ride! Thank you all!


	8. Chapter 08: tracing Ben

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben is missing and Persephone has to team up with the most unexpected partner. Some family secrets are going to be revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank for all you comments, bookmark and kudos. They give me life and fuel to continue this story

Persephone knew something was wrong the moment she saw the spirit in the kitchen. She should have accompanied Ben to that place. She knew something was going to happen. She wasn’t that lucky! She approached the man. He was in his twenties, maybe a little older than she looked like, black clothes very similar to those who Thanatos wore, light brown hair and a scar on his face. She absolutely didn’t know who he was. So, she did what any normal person would have done in her place: she approached him and talked.

“Good night, sir. May I ask who you are and what are you doing here?”

“ _Good night, ma’am,_ ” She recognised that smile and the accent in the «ma’am». For the gods! He couldn’t be _him_ ! “ _I’m Anakin Skywalker._ ” Yes, he was, “ _A very angry and vengeful spirit. My grandson was kidnapped in front of my eyes and I couldn’t do anything. No one can see me and I can’t touch anyone, so I can’t destroy the lesser being who hurt my boy. As you seem to achieve what I cannot, can you help me?_ ”

She couldn’t believe what was happening to her. All that could have gone wrong certainly went wrong. And what was the ghost of Anakin Skywalker doing there? Was he dead? A few hours ago, Thanatos said that his time hasn’t come yet. A lot of questions that this spirit seemed inadequate to answer. This new year wasn’t beginning very well. And moreover, now they had a grandson to save. So, she took over herself, sighed deeply, smiled, a very wicked and dangerous smile, and said.

“Sir, you have come to the right place.”

She snapped her fingers and her dress disappeared. She was wearing a black jean and a white shirt. If that couldn’t be called a classic…

“Where did you say they have taken your grandson?”

Anakin Skywalker seemed to want to ask her another thing, but he restrained himself.

“ _The last place I saw them was in the building where he works. I needed to find someone to help me quickly, but it has become a harder task than I thought._ ”

“And you didn't think of following the kidnappers?” 

Definitely, the twins inherited their brains from their mother! Even if that way of throwing himself in danger, without thinking, was totally a Luke's move.

“ _I was in a rush! I had to make a choice. And I choose to seek help. So, help me instead of criticising me._ ”

She smiled.

“Calm down, hot head. We are going to save Ben. But you have to admit that now we have to find him again, we are going to lose time.” He looked at her with a black glance. She wasn’t impressed. “You are lucky that I have the perfect bloodhound. He’ll find Ben.”

She whistled Cerberus and the dog came to her side. She closed the door, letting a message to her sister Athena, A.K.A. Detective Phasma. She was sure Mitaka would contact her. Between the importance of the case and Ben’s disappearance, he was more secure with her. Instead of leading the way to the exit of the building, Persephone went to the roof. Anakin called her attention.

“ _Hey! The exit is the other way._ ”

“Not for me.” 

“ _That’s the roof, princess._ ”

“Actually,” She smiled at him with sufficient, opening the roof door “I’m a queen.”

He followed her with a very curious glance.

“ _Who the hell are you?_ ”

She couldn’t avoid laughing. He had to use _that_ phrase.

“I’m Persephone, rightful ruler of the Underworld. And this is Cerberus, my three-head dog, the best seeker of lost things.”

Anakin laughed at her. It was normal. Who would have believed her? But she wasn’t offended. 

“ _Of course! And I’m Ura… THE KRIFF IS THAT??!!!_ ”

That exclamation was provoked by the transformation of Cerberus. From the lovely dog Ben and his grandfathers have known, he became a gigantic three-head beast that has been the nightmare terror of human souls since ancient times. She loved her dog.

“You were saying?”

“ _Nothing. It’s a pleasure to meet you, my queen_.”

She jumped over the back of the animal and made a sign with the head towards Anakin to convince him to ride behind her. He could be a spirit, but you could say he was unsure about riding a giant dog.

“We are going first to the building. From there, Cerberus will take his normal size and follow Ben’s smell. It wouldn't be difficult for him to find it.”

“ _And no one is going to see a giant three-headed dog running through the city?_ ”

“Humans cannot see him. Just gods, demi-gods, and other supernatural beings. And they would never pay attention to him.”

“ _Why?_ ”

“Because they don't want to mess up with me, obviously. Come on, Cerberus! To the building!”

And the dog jumped happily. It wasn't every day he could take his normal form and run into the city. The reality was that it was an unspoken rule of everyone being quiet in his place and don’t make too much noise. If someone saw Cerberus, they would probably know that she was in trouble. But she hadn't lied: no one was going to say anything to them because they would never want to piss her off. She has granted herself an isolated reputation. Even her siblings knew that she didn't like to be pampered like a baby. If she asks for help, the situation has to be very serious.

They arrived at the building a few moments later. It was crowded with police officers and curious people. Cerberus transformed himself again in a normal size dog and she entered the perimeter. She saw her sister talking to a young man. He was about her age, again, brown hair, formal clothes, but a very afraid look.

“Gwen.” 

She turned and looked at her. Her eyebrows come together in a worried expression.

“Rey. How are you here?”

“I had… a tip.” 

“ _She can't see me,_ _doesn't_ _she?_ ”

Anakin was right. Persephone had completely forgotten that her sister couldn't see spirits. Not being a deity related to the Underworld, she couldn't see spirits. It wasn't because she was a goddess she could do everything like her sister. Every god had its particularities. Gwen could do things she couldn’t.

“I know who is missing. I have brought Cerberus. You have any clue?”

She turned to the young man.

“I was about to ask him that. He was the person who gave the alarm and saw what happened.”

“Dopheld Mitaka, at your service. I was called by Mr. Snoke in an urgent matter. When I came here, I saw that something wasn’t right. So, I called Mr. Solo for help. We were working in a secret case against Mr. Snoke. He gave me some instructions that I was fulfilling when I saw him entering the building. I followed him because I didn't trust Mr. Snoke. I saw Mr. Solo entering the office of Mr. Snoke from a hidden place and I saw a man who worked for Mr. Snoke knock out Mr. Solo. I didn't help him because he said to me that Mr. Snoke was a dangerous man. So, I called Detective Phasma and here we are. The last I could see was how they put Mr. Solo in a car.”

“We already have the license plate.” Gwen intervened, “They are trying to find the car.”

“And no one saw you in all this time?” Persephone couldn't believe that.

“If they saw me, they didn't pay attention to me.” He shrugged.

All three were bewildered.

“He was right,” said Gwen, “Never underestimate an intern.”

“WHERE IS MY SON?!”

A cry was heard in the night. Everyone turned the head and they could see Leia Organa. She was very dishevelled, extremely worried but she conserved her royal air, even in the middle of a tragedy. Right behind her was her brother, Luke, trying to calm her. 

“Leia! Leia! Yelling at those persons is not going to accelerate Ben’s return. Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!! Has it ever worked to tell anyone to calm down? Do you prefer I yell at you, Luke?”

“Yes, I would.” He was so calm, saying that, that it was more frightening than her shouting, “So you could let the police do their work. Come here.”

He forced her in an embrace she clearly didn't want. Not that she didn't love her brother, but she wasn't used to showing affection in public and he was forcing her to do something she was very uncomfortable with. 

“Gwen, you should go and speak to Senator Organa before we have to bury the last Skywalker in name because he has been killed in a fratricide action.”

“On my way.” and she left, followed by Mitaka who went to speak to another police officer.

As Athena was trying to speak with the Senator, Anakin was looking at them with a sad look in his eyes. 

“ _I don’t know if I have to be afraid or impressed with Leia._ ”

“She would expect you to be both. And if Snoke had been here, she would have thrown a truck on his head, just for having the courage to arm her son.”

The World War II general looked at her and then at his children.

“ _I’m changing my opinion: I’m a hell of proud of Leia… Lady Persephone? It’s me or Luke is looking directly into my eyes? He can see me?_ ”

“I have absolutely no idea. But he’s coming over here. We are going to solve our doubts in a matter of seconds”.

Luke walked resolutely toward them and stopped at their point. He made a little reverence with the head toward Persephone, as he recognized her status as queen of the Underworld.

“Rey.”

And then he clearly turned towards Anakin and looked him in the eyes. There weren't any more doubts: he could see the spirit.

“Father?”

“ _You can see me?_ ” The poor ghost was between euphoric and sad.

“Yes, but how?”

“That was my line.” Intervened Persephone. “You can clearly see the spirits of people but you have nothing of an Underworld deity.”

“It's who you are?” 

She tossed him a glance which usually made the fearless hooligan calling for his mama. But Luke didn't move an inch. Persephone had to admit that he was well trained with Leia.

“No, I’m not a deity or something like that. I’ve always been capable of perceiving the Spiritual World, seeing fairies when I was little and knew you weren't a normal girl when I was a young man.” He raised an eyebrow to her. “After cleaning my father's name, I took a trip around the world seeing if there were other people like me. I discovered that gods, spirits, ancient beliefs, all of them were still very true.”

“Sorry to disappoint you for not being dead.”

He smiled softly. Persephone didn't like that smile. It remembered too much at Ben’s.

“It gave sense to a lot of things. I’ve been helping a lot of spirits and gods all around the world. I’m a contact they have between their world and the human world.” He sighed, “I was also hoping to find someone with my same abilities to be my heir, but no success so further.”

“ _Maybe Ben. He can see me._ ” 

Anakin was very proud of that. Persephone was almost horrified at the idea. She had to admit that it was a little part of her that she didn't want to share him with other gods. Luke looked at his father amazed.

“Ben can see you? He has never shown any sign of power in all his life!”

“Ben is another case. Very different to you Luke.”

Persephone couldn't avoid saying that. They were there discussing Ben's future without him. And she knew exactly why he could see Anakin. She had avoided the evidence so far, she still didn’t understand how it was possible, she was making all the efforts to separate both ideas to not end with a broken heart again, but Ben was, in a certain way, related to her Hades.

“Ben is not the son of a demigod like you. He's… another thing. Different. Don't ask me because I’m not sure how to explain.”

“ _A demigod?_ ” Anakin looked at her bewildered. “ _I'm not a demigod, my Lady._ ”

She was weirded out. 

“You have all the classical characteristics: no father, an incredible course in the army, you were general before your twentieth birthday. You could do amazing things on the battlefield! What makes you so sure you are not a demigod?”

Anakin didn’t look at her, either at Luke. He was concentrated in his feet, avoiding eye-contact.

“ _I had memories… like a life lived before mine._ ”

“Can’t be… Metempsychosis?!”

Anakin looked at his son desperately.

“In the common tongue: reincarnation. Rey, you are a Greek deity, don’t you?”

“ _Oh, yes, she is,_ ” Anakin was laughing. Persephone didn’t find anything laughable on the subject.

“I am, and I also have a lot of connections with rulers from other Underworlds. I’m not sure if you are dead or not, but you are still very mortal Anakin Skywalker. Stop pissing me off if you don’t want to end in my domains.”

“You are Persephone!! The wife of Hades.” Luke said like he had discovered the most incredible secret.

They were father and son, she hadn’t any doubt of that! They were capable of pissing her off in the same way.

“I rule the Hades, the Greek Underworld, by myself and by my own right for more than fifteen hundred years, and I’m still the _wife of_? Luke Skywalker, get off my sight if you don’t want to end in the deepest deep of the Tartarus! CERBERUS!” The cute dog came at her side. “Search Ben’s smell. We are going to smash that Snoke into a pulp and bring Ben back!”

The dog barked and began to smell the ground. She could hear father and son talking. They were a little afraid of her. She let them talk. They had time to recover and she didn’t know how much Anakin had left. She had to talk to Hermes for that. He was a psychopompos, a conveyor of souls, if someone knew what was going on, it was him. 

But she had resolved one of the doubts she had: Luke. He wasn’t a god or a demigod. He was just a guy who could see spirits. History was full of that kind of person. Usually, they were in the religion branch - priest, monks, holy people, stuff like that. But she was worried about Anakin. He had said he wasn’t a demigod. That he had _memories_. She had to save Ben and then she had to make a full interrogation of Anakin. The divine wind Thanatos, Apollo and she had felt was more than something brought back by a reincarnation.

Cerberus asked for her attention with one of his paws. She looked at him and knew it: he had found the trace of his master and wanted to follow it as quickly as possible. 

“Luke, tell Detective Phasma Cerberus has found a lead on Ben. Don’t tell her anything about Anakin, she can’t see him. We are going to find Ben and if there is a phone nearby, I’ll try to contact her. I have her beeper. Distract also your sister. The last thing we need is a Senator meddling in our affairs. Come on, Ghosty, we have a grandson to find.”

And without waiting for Anakin she headed toward the nearest alley and jumped over Cerberus back when he was transformed again.

********

The place was a storage in Brooklyn’s harbor, in front of Governor Island. If during the day she didn’t like to go there, during the night Persephone was very happy to be a goddess.

“ _This place hasn’t changed so much after fifty years…_ ”

“Is not the brightest place in the city. You can bet they aren’t putting money here to make it look good.”

“ _No, definitely, this city hasn’t changed in fifty years._ ”

Persephone descended from Cerberus, who regained his normal-dog size, and followed him until they arrived in front of a door. She wrote to Athena her emplacement. She was sure that this was the place. But it was a regular metal door. She couldn’t feel anything abnormal from it. Anakin was next to her and looking very serious. Ben could be in danger, but he was ready for anything, he was in his element.

“ _What’s the plan, now?”_

“It’s a door.” She said like it wasn’t evident enough, “Knock on it.”

A wide smile appeared on his face.

“ _You are my kind of girl._ ”

With a movement of her hand, the metal door flew off. Inside of the storage room was Snoke, seated on a gigantic grey throne. All around him, were a lot of his minions charging boxes. And at his right, strung up like a Christmas sock, was an unconscious Ben.

“Knock, knock.” She couldn’t avoid saying it.

Snoke could have been surprised by her entrance, but he didn’t show anything.

“Queen Persephone.” He smiled. She didn’t like his smile. She preferred when he didn’t smile. “I was waiting for you.”

That… wasn’t expected. At all.

[ ](https://ibb.co/8ctbqXT)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe, yes I love cliffhangers xD I’m having so much fun with Anakin. I love Ben’s grandfathers xD
> 
> In the next one... sound familiar the place? 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Until next time


	9. Chapter 09: Give me everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone is going to affront Snoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay!! I’ve discovered that action are really not easy for me to write. And well, life happens too ^^’
> 
> I want to thank all of you who are here every time I posted, just by reading, or comment or put a kudo on my work. I’m really happy to have you all. 
> 
> This chapter is a littler short, about 2.5K words, but September has been hard. I will try to update sooner the next time.
> 
> Attention! You’ll recognize the scene of this chapter, no doubt, but I want to warn you there is a pretty nasty death here (the famous one). The disturbing paragraphs are between blue butterflies 🦋 you don't want to read, you can jump, it won't affect the narration.
> 
> Good lecture

Persephone approached the man firmly. She didn’t know how Snoke knew her true identity, but she didn’t bother to hide it. She didn't need it.

“So, you know who I am?”

He laughed, with a disgusting and rough laugh.

“My poor child,” he had called her _how_? “I’ve known about you all for a long time. And you are on my radar these days. We can help each other.”

She couldn't possibly imagine in what way he could help her.

“And how?”

“You have something I want that it's nothing more than a nuisance for you, and I have something you desire with all your heart.”

He pointed out Ben with one of his long fingers. Her eyes went colder in front of that insinuation.

“Oh, no, is not Ben Solo what I’m offering to you.” 

He laughed again. A cold sweat ran through her back. She began to figure out what he was offering to her. Impossible!

“Your little head had correctly guessed. You have certainly felt some similarities these past few days: the way he looks at you, how he kisses you, the manner he moves around you… Information! You can do anything with the correct information. Even deceive a poor lonely goddess like you.”

She was horrified! What he was implying was simply impossible to do for a human. He had to have some divine help. He couldn't extract information from Who-Knows-Where and put in the mind of Ben like that. No human had that power by himself. But humans were also the most resourceful beings she had ever encountered in her long existence. Never say never.

“I don't like to be treated as a « poor lonely goddess ». I’m simply going to smash you, like the bug you are, and take whatever you think you possibly can offer to me.”

“Don’t play with me, queen!” he had the guts to elevate the tone of his voice? She was really about to smash him and then give him to Cerberus as a mashing toy. After a strong vaccine against every known disease, “Kill me and you will never see your husband again. He’ll disappear from existence for all eternity. Not even to return in this human form.”

“You are not strong enough to do such a thing!”

“I warned Ben Solo this afternoon, his actions would have consequences, and now he's between life and death. You’re his only hope. I warn you now: never underestimate me. I rule already two Underworlds. Yours will be next.”

WHAT?! Persephone should have heard it wrong. Snoke had just said he was the ruler of _two_ Underworlds? It was impossible! No god would ever let their domains in the hands of a human, and less in the hands of a human as Snoke.

“You are lying.” she put all the poison she was capable of in those words.

“Judge by yourself, ruler of the Hades.”

He moved his hands and in the one on the right a staff appeared. On the one on the left, a crook and flail did the same. She could have said they were a forgery, but they weren't. She was a goddess of nature after all, and those objects were made of wood, and she knew them too well. The staff belonged to Hel, the goddess of the Viking Underworld. It has been carved in the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree of life. The crook and flail were way more ancient. They belonged to Osiris, they were made with old palm wood. She couldn't believe what she was looking at.

“They can’t… They would never…”

“I offered them an offer they couldn't refuse. Hel just wanted freedom from doom. Osiris was simpler; he wanted the same as you: a life without responsibilities with his wife.”

“That can’t be! Hel was proud to be able to fight alongside her father Loki when Ragnarok arrived. And Osiris was a king, never felt the weight of the white crown. What you are saying doesn’t make any sense.”

Snoke ceased to smile at her. He stood right on his throne. With another movement of the hand, the staff, the crook and the flail disappeared. They were changed by a long and cylindrical object, she knew it also very well, even more than the three others.

“THIEF! That was on my nightstand this morning! It doesn't belong to you.”

“Neither to you. It's the sword of Hades, if I’m not wrong.” he looked at the object with a curious look, “Or at least its handle.”

Persephone was outraged. He had the stomach to enter into her house and steal from her an object she cared about so much. She couldn't accept this… _thing_ to be on the loose for more time. She didn't know what he had done to Hel and Osiris, and frankly she was almost afraid to ask, but she was sure he was a human. As a goddess, one of her duties was to teach humans the dangers of _hubris_ , the vanity that has caused the downfall of humankind too many times. She had to stop him, and stop him now!

She wanted to play the oblivious and desperate goddess a bit longer, to know what he had planned for Ben, but Snoke had powers, he claimed to be the ruler of the Helheim and the Duat. This couldn't continue.

She was about to strike Snoke with all her strength when from a corner of her eye Persephone saw Ben moving in the air and landing behind her. He was still unconscious.

“You can't beat me. I control his body and soul,” she turned afraid to see if what he was saying was true, “I’ve heard that only gods can kill other gods.”

He was saying that as he had witnessed what it was told. Suddenly, she was more afraid for her friends than she had thought at the beginning. But, she forced herself to rationalize the moment. It doesn't matter what he said, Ben was a human, nothing more. Besides, gods couldn't kill other gods. Only humans had that power, by stopping believing in them, not with brute strength. Persephone couldn't die in that place as Snoke had planned it.

He was right: information was everything. And he didn't have the correct one.

“I have absolute control over young Solo’s body. I filled him with Hades' knowledge of war. You are a nature goddess born too late, you don't know anything about fights or battles. This is your last chance: give me the Hades or perish by the hands of your lover’s image.”

A sword appeared at Ben’s side. It was a beautiful xiphos, with its undulating edge, and ended in a black wooden handle. As it was made for Hades. But Ben didn't make any movement to take it. He was awake and looking at her seriously without moving from his position. Persephone’s answer came from her heart, didn't break eye contact.

“I’ll never give you the Hades. I’ve ruled it since my husband's death and I’ll rule it until my own death or his return. You’ll never take it away from me and you can't even begin to understand why.”

“Hold still that fiery spit of hope, an unbreakable strength. You have the spirit of a true Queen… and because of that, you must die.” She didn't move a single inch, “Benjamin Solo, last of the Skywalkers, son of Darkness. You would not feel remorse or pain. I can feel your mind, your every intent. My control over you is absolute.”

“I know what I have to do… and I have the strength to do it.”

Ben’s face was determined. Somewhere inside of her, Persephone knew that Ben was about to do something he couldn't come back from. She had to stop him.

“Ben…” 

A small plea came from her lips. Snoke, the place, herself, nothing mattered anymore. She had to stop him!

“You think you can turn him? Pathetic child! I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten. He’s under my influence. He's not even listening to you. And now, you will see how he kills you, without feelings, without remorse!”

A loud sound was heard in her back. She didn't even turn. She knew what had happened. The xiphos dropped to the ground loudly and the handle flew into Ben’s hands. But it wasn't anymore only the handle, it had regained its original form as a sword. A particular one only wielded by Hades: a pure beam of light, with all its edges cutting, and contrary as what everyone could think from the Lord of the Underworld, its color was pure blue.

🦋

All of Snoke's minions saw what Ben had done and dropped their boxes. Until that moment, they had ignored the trio as they weren't even there. Smoke had left the sword quietly aside in the throne armrest, abandoned like a useless decorative object that it wasn't. Persephone didn't know how, maybe with the implanted memories of Hades, Ben had reactivated the sword and cut Snoke in half. By this action, he had attracted all the minions' attention and now, they were angry against them both.

🦋

From nowhere, the men pulled out strange swords and circled them. They were terribly menacing, but nothing that Hades and Persephone hadn't faced before. She made her combat spear appear. It was a spear made of the hardest wood in the world: Australian bukole. It wasn't exactly the most beautiful of all, but she liked her spear more than anything, it had carved in its wood all the marks she had made in countless battles. 

Ben and Persephone stood back to back, prepared to face Snoke minions. They were menacing and they outnumbered them without any doubt, but she was a goddess, she only had to make sure they didn't hurt Ben.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“They aren't enough to scare me.”

“Neither to me,” she could hear him smirking at that. “This will end quickly.” 

Six men attacked them at the same time. Persephone was quicker and killed the first arriving at the side of Ben. Her spear gave her a longer range. She turned immediately to stop the three attackers who came from her side. Ben stopped the other two with his sword and killed them with only one blow. His strength and force were a sight to admire. His impulse gave her the force to kick her attackers. They fly away from her. 

Before they have the time to react again, Ben lowered his sword and Persephone saw something she hadn't seen in centuries. Technically, it was possible to do it, but it was so rare that it was almost a forgotten technique: the sword of Hades changed its form and transformed into a light pistol. She didn't recognize the model, but a holster appeared in his hip and thigh. He put the pistol there for an instant. He was like a sheriff waiting for the right moment to shoot. 

And it was just what he did. He began to shoot, with deadly precision, Snoke men. She hardly had to do anything more aside to prevent them from attacking him from his back. In less than two minutes they were all dead.

He put his gun back into the holster like a cowboy. Show-off.

“My father taught me how to shoot.”

“Yes, I can see that. If I remember well, he was a good shooter.”

A proud boyish smile appeared on his face. 

“He is a great shooter. The best I know.”

“He better be! I presented him to my brother Apollo, who taught him how to shoot.”

“My father knows Apollo?”

“You too. Is Doctor Poe Dameron.”

A bewildered expression appeared in his face while he was trying to assimilate the idea of the doctor who had healed his head that morning was the god Apollo. Then he sighed and shook his head like he wanted to put aside the idea, like it wasn't important at that moment. Ben looked at her with a soft smile. 

“Rey… Persephone.”

The language could be different, the man could be another, but the intonation, the voice, the light in his eyes, everything was the same. She could see all the thoughts he was thinking about at this exact moment. 

Ben lifted the hand in her direction, offering it for her to take it. If he had Hades’s memories, she knew exactly what memory he was imitating: the first time Hades proposed to her, when he offered Persephone all his wealth and kingdom, and she sent him to Hell, pun intended. Ben was so sure she was going to take his hand this time. He had no doubts in his look. Hades had looked so desperate, so alone, so sad. Ben was so confident, so sure, so soft in his smile.

“Come with me, Persephone, we have to get out of here.”

She didn't want anything else than to take his hand and follow him wherever he wanted to go. A flash of memory of the kiss exchanged in the kitchen that afternoon came back to her: how her body had fit so well in his, how he knew where to touch her to ignite her desire, her passion, how his weight over her was just for her to feel safe between his arms, how his mouth and tongue had been so sweet she could still savour the taste even then. 

But she couldn't follow him. All had been a deception hatched by Snoke. All the precious memories she could have of Ben were associated with Hades and they have been planted there by Snoke. It was all false. She had to extract herself from there, from him. For both well-being. When she had definitely accepted that Ben was related to Hades she discovered that all was fake, something to convince her to give up the Underworld. She couldn't do that to Ben. She had to make him understand. Even if that meant to break both hearts.

“I can't, Ben.” he opened his eyes, not wanting to believe what he was hearing, “You have to understand. Everything was a fraud.”

“NO! _You_ do not understand! He lied, Persephone. Don't do this. Don't play his game.”

“Don’t you see it? If we stick together we’ll base everything on a forgery.”

“It isn’t. Don't treat me like a teenager who doesn't understand his feelings about you.”

“Then grow up and accept that all you think we know about each other is a lie. A fake memory of another person.”

“Then let me show you who I am. Let me know you as Ben Solo.” 

“I…”

But before she could give him her answer, a whistle was heard in the place.

“What a disaster you have both made.”

🦋

They both turned and saw Athena, arms crossed, looking at all the dead men. And it was just at that moment that the body of Snoke, well the upper part, decided to fall with a disgusting and disturbing sound. Athena raised an eyebrow.

🦋

“You are in serious trouble.”

She wanted to kill her sister, but a god couldn't kill another god, even if she was very tempted. 

[ ](https://ibb.co/BwhMb1T)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. No, I haven't forget Anakin, but he wasn't interacting with Persephone so, not in this chapter. He maybe would appear in the next one. Stay tuned.
> 
> Here some notes about this chapter, not needed to continue the lecture freely but if you are curious:  
> \- This is the [Handle of the Sword of Hades](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/5/50/BenSolosLightsaber-TROSVD.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200311194628), as you haven't see that coming xD  
> \- This is a [Xiphos](https://ibb.co/Bytkyqk), a very common sword in Ancient Greece.  
> -[Hel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_\(being\)?wprov=sfti1) was the Viking goddess of the Underworld. The most common representation of her is the of a a young woman with half of the face normal and half as a skeleton. Her realm was Helheim (lit. the realm of Hel) and it was located in the roots of [Yggdrasil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil?wprov=sfti1), the tree of life, where all the worlds where stand. In the Viking’s beliefs, the Apocalypse was the [Ragnarök](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k?wprov=sfti1) a brutal battle, beginning by Loki and his children, where all living things will die.  
> \- [Osiris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris?wprov=sfti1) was the Egyptian god of the Underworld. He was usually represented as a Mummy, with the white crown of the Upper Egypt and the cross and flail of the Pharaohs because he was the first Pharaoh of Egypt, kill by his brother Seth and revived by his sister Isis to reign in the Underworld, the [Duat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duat?wprov=sfti1).
> 
> For looking as how my WIP advance (or not) this is my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Himilce02648519): @Himilce02648519
> 
> Thanks for reading until next time!


	10. Chapter 10: Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben comes home to have a little moment of peace before some important revelations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special chapter! Double length. Sorry for the delay but it was important that everything was clear here because it's an important chapter that marks the half of this fic.

Ok, someone stops the time! This couldn't be true. It has to be a bad joke happening to Ben. 

He was in the most boring New Year Party in ages when his father called him and presented literally the girl of his dreams. He isn't joking, it's not a metaphor or an expression: Rey has haunted his dreams since he was a little boy. Failing with every single flirt trick he knew, he achieved to kiss the girl under the mistletoe before she flew away -what left him with serious doubts about his abilities as a kisser. The next day, he was in the park and destiny, in the form of a dog, fell upon him: he met her again. She was even more gorgeous in jeans than with a gown. His grandfather Anakin fell into a coma when he thought he could spend a little time alone with Rey. Anakin Skywalker maybe was a sadistic bastard when he blew up an entire kindergarten, but Ben could always defend him with temporary insanity and he was still his other grandfather, the one of his Uncle Luke look as his father. He just couldn't abandon him, it wasn't in his blood. 

He still didn't know how, but he managed to have Rey in his apartment for an evening. Then they kiss. It wasn’t a normal kiss, it was one of those kisses of the love stories, one of you are convinced you are never going to have because they didn't exist. But Ben was wrong, they do exist. He was just tasting one when Mitaka called, and everything went wrong.

****

Now he was somewhere in Brooklyn, examined by a doctor, after discovering that the girl of his dreams was a goddess, a married one -widow? He didn't clearly understand that part- and she didn't want to see him in the foreseeable future. He just wanted this evening to be a nightmare that happened during a nap.

Ben saw from afar his parents arriving. His mother crushed him in a hug he didn’t know he needed. He let a huge sigh escape from his lips and returned her embrace. He felt her warmth, he smelt her sweet perfume, he sensed her love for him. He knew she was worried sick about him. And by his father’s eyes, she wasn’t the only one. Han Solo ruffled his son's hair with a smile but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t needed. His eyes spoke for him. Ben stayed in his mother’s arms for a long time, feeling his father's proximity. She didn’t make any movement to let him go, he didn’t push her away. He was at home. 

“I’m so relieved you are safe and sound.”

Ben looked at the voice and saw his Abuelo Bail next to his uncle Luke. All his family was there for him. Even the ghost of his grandfather that had begun following him and was pretty sure the reason Rey appeared. He muttered a soundless “ _thank you_ ” to him. The ghost smiled. He couldn’t deny he was his grandfather: Anakin and Luke had the same smile.

“Ben Solo?” 

Ben looked at the person who had called for him. It was Detective Phasma and if he remembered well, she was one of Persephone’s sisters. He didn’t know if she was a demigod or a goddess, and now he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He unwrapped himself from his mother's embrace and stood in front of her. He could not be the lord of the Underworld, but he still was a man who looked in the eyes of the person who talked to him.

“I have already your statements and the one of Miss Jones. But I would need you to come tomorrow to the precinct to fulfil some more details.” 

Of course! She wanted all the godly details he couldn’t give her with all the humans around. He felt so tired.

“I don’t see the necessity, detective.” He used his coldest voice, “I’ve already said what I had to say. I highly doubt you’ll have any further questions for me that I haven’t answered yet or that Miss Jones or Mister Mitaka couldn’t answer for me.” Before she had time to say anything, he continued “I’ve been hit two times in the head today. My doctor, Doctor Dameron, I think you know him, prescribed me rest. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to my family state in the Hamptons. If you need anything, I’ll be there.”

He turned and left her there. He didn't look at Rey, she had made quite clear she didn't want to see or talk to him. When they went out of the safe house with Detective Phasma, he desperately wanted to talk with her, but she just said to him that she didn’t want anything at that moment. Ben could understand: she was hurt by all what Snoke had said to her, she was convinced that what they both felt was set up, but she hadn’t even given them a chance to discuss. And this has hurt him, a lot. Ben knew his feelings, he knew what he felt for her was real and deep, it couldn’t have been made by some raisin with a Napoleon complex. And the fact she didn’t believe in them made him so angry he prefered to calm down in the Hamptons before facing her. Otherwise, he could say things he would regret bitterly, he knew his bad temper.

He was in his mother’s car, brooding, when she entered the cabin. He didn’t have to say anything, she already knew. She smiled at him and passed one of her little arms around his broad shoulders. She could have been very absent when he was a kid, but she was making amends on his adult life. He let his head on her strong shoulders and they stayed like that for a time. His father entered the car a few minutes later and patted his knee in support. He was behind the wheel. If something was always going to be the same is Han Solo driving the vehicle you are in. Just after, his Abuelo opened the door next to him and his uncle the passenger one. He had a special package in hands.

“Luke, can I know what you are doing with that enormous dog?” Leia’s tone was very irritated, like when Ben returned from the gardens in the Hamptons covered in mud from tip to toe. 

“His name is Cerberus and he’s coming with us.”

Ben bowed a little to the dog and called him by his name. It couldn’t be the same Cerberus as the one in the myths. The dog kissed him happily wagging his tail like a dysfunctional fan. Ben returned to his position, eyes widened: it was. 

Ben’s father took his family away from that horrible place. It was a two-hour drive from Brooklyn to the Hamptons. Ben was a little squished in the back seat of the car between his abuelo and his mother, but he really didn’t care. He had a terrible day and needed the warmth of his own. 

In a moment, a car jumped from one of the sides and almost hit them. His father avoided the hit because he was an excellent driver, but the other one made them signals in protest. His mother lowered the window and Ben could hear him crying “Watch out!”. This inflamed Leia, she was very proud of her husband’s skills as a driver.

“Where did you get your driver licence? In a Piñata?! Go back to the sandbox, build a castle or two and leave the grown-up alone.” 

And as he knew how to make the better effect, Ben’s father accelerated and left the other driver behind. And yes kids, this was the Senator for the State of New York: Leia Organa Solo. All the others in the cabin smiled at her but he was horrified. It wasn’t a behaviour for someone of her age. When he was about to say something, Ben heard through the opened window, a voice:

“ _That’s my girl!_ ”

Ben had to use his most fiercest lawyer poker face to not be discovered. When he said that Han was taking all his family back to the Hamptons he wasn’t lying: in the roof of the car was Grandpa Anakin in his ghost form. This was going to be a fun trip. 

**********

In the Hamptons, Ben was cocooned in a warm white sweater, with a hot cocoa in his hands looking at his old books in his bedroom. He was remembering having read them all during his long summer vacations. Some of them were gifts from his mother, others were memories from his grandma Padmé, and some were hidden sketchbooks from when he was a teenager. It was something he didn’t like to share with anyone. When he was about ten-years-old, he began to appreciate drawing certain things - a hand, a tree, a smile - it wasn’t enough to go to an art academy but yes to stall him during lectures at school. When he was fifteen, he was good enough to draw people. He stopped in law school. Now he was in front of those secret sketches he had made all those years ago knowing what he was about to face. He took the book where he knew was that draw he drew when he was sixteen. All began with a beautiful golden daffodil he has spotted in a creek next to his house. The draw drew itself. There it was, exactly as in his memory. 

After a moment, Ben let out a deep sigh and closed the book. He heard a knock at the door and saw his father. Han smiled at his son.

“Can I come in?”

Ben moved the head inviting him in. They both sit in the bed. It was big because they bought a new one a few years ago when it became clear that his old from his teenage years wasn’t going to be enough. Han looked at this son with an uneasy smile. It wasn’t a man that was comfortable with talks but knew when he had to do one. It was one of those moments.

“So…” he looked everywhere except at his son. Ben knew where he had inherited his awkward gift for social skills. “The Jones girl?”

Ben had to laugh. He knew that Solaris, or in fact Persephone herself in disguise, has been a huge crush in his father’s life. A little before he met his mother. But what Ben felt wasn't similar to his father. 

“She doesn't want to see me. For the second day in a row.”

“I can’t believe that. Not after yesterday’s kiss under the mistletoe.” 

It was only the day prior?! It felt like a hundred years ago.

“Well, I’ve already apologized for my behaviour from yesterday… and I’ve kissed her again this afternoon.” His father smirked, “Don’t smile. When I thought everything was going to be smooth, that I was doing the right things, I got kidnapped and now she doesn't want to see me, _again_.”

“Seeing an old raisin who has kidnapped you being killed in front of her eyes is not the best scenario to ask for a romantic dinner.”

“She can hold that. She’s strong as mom.”

“Then you have to be stubborn. If I had given up the first ten times your mother called me _Nerfherder_ you wouldn’t be here, kid.” he messed with his hair, “what is what your mother always said about hope?”

Ben sighed, he hated that sentence.

“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night.”

Han smiled and stood up.

“Never give up on hope, son. You’re a Solo. No one tells us about odds.” 

And he left the room. Ben heard a sneer. He looked and saw his Grandpa Anakin. He was looking at the door recently closed as if it were guilty of all his ills. 

“ _He’s a Skywalker too, Nerfherder._ ” 

A shiver passed through Ben’s column. He said it with the exact intonation as his mother. And his eyes had the same darkness that hers when Ben had done something very dangerous and was in big trouble. Leia could _never_ deny she was the biological daughter of Anakin.

“ _Ah, and an Organa too!_ ” 

“Grandpa,” Ben tried to attract his attention, “He was just trying to cheer me up.”

“ _Well, with cheap sentences and family tree errors. Don’t get me wrong, it could be a good motivational speech, but it’s not accurate._ ”

“Grandpa, the sun doesn’t shine at night, it’s a good metaphor about hope.”

“ _The sun doesn't…? Come with me._ ”

And without waiting for him, he left the bedroom, went downstairs, passed through the front door and walked in the gardens in front of the house. Ben had to run after him. It was the first person, after his father, who could walk as fast as him. 

The gardens were at dark, nothing illuminated them, even if Ben knew it was light somewhere. But he knew them too well to fall for an irregularity in the ground. They have been his playground all his childhood. Being an only child, it was the place where he played, where he fought dragons and rescued princesses, where he conquered the West and fought against outlaws to defend innocent townspeople, when he dreamed to play with little siblings that he never had.

Anakin stopped far away from the house. Ben didn’t know how, but he could still see him. He was waiting for him. 

“ _Well, we are going to refresh your basic astronomic class._ ” ok…? What? “ _Answer this: the sun is the… of the solar system._ ”

What was his grandfather playing at?

“Center?” 

By his look, it was the wrong answer.

“ _Take another guess._ ”

“Star?”

A soft smile appeared on his face.

“ _Good, repeat that sentence of your mother, please._ ”

Ben didn’t know where he was going with that but he obeyed, not without an annoying tone in his voice.

“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night.”

“ _Now, look up._ ”

Ben raised his head and he had to force himself to close his jaw. He was looking at the most incredible spectacle he hasn't seen in a long time. As he was in the Hamptons and not in the city, where it wasn't light pollution, he could see all the stars in the sky. They shined like diamonds hanging in a dark velvet cape. He could see the Milky Way as he hadn't seen it in years. The night was so clear he could distinguish every constellation in the sky.

“ _I know it is a metaphor to prevent lose hope, but, in my book, it is during the night that you can see the largest number of stars,_ ” he looked at him, with a mischievous smile, “ _or suns if you prefer it._ ”

Ben had to admit it, his grandfather was right. The sky was incredibly beautiful. It was filled with stars. A sentiment of nostalgia overcame him.

“ _Do you know how to locate the constellations, Ben?_ "

He hummed.

“When I was a kid, my father taught me them. The one from the north and southern hemisphere. He said that if one day I was lost without a map, in the night, the only thing I had to do is look at the stars, they would guide me home.” 

Anakin smiled.

“I can still hear him: _We are going to begin with these ones, Ben. In the northern hemisphere, the North is marked by Polaris, a star in the Lesser Bear who is just above the Great Bear. Both easy to find because they have the form of a saucepan. Do you remember the name of the stars of the Great Bear?_ Of course, I remember them: Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Benetnash.” He signalled them in the real sky while he was naming them, “I always loved Mizar. It has a twin star, Alcor, very close, not everyone can see them just with their eyes. It reminds me of my mother and uncle: just at one look, you can’t say they are twins, but with the right look, you cannot not see it.”

His Grandpa was smiling at him fondly. 

“ _It’s a great gift, what your father gave you. During the war, the stars were my faithful companions. When I felt lonely I always looked at them and thought that your grandmother Padmé was under the same sky, that she was seeing the same stars like me. When I lost her, I lost myself._ ”

His mother would have argued that plenty of men lose their wife during childbirth and not all blast a kindergarten. But something inside told him to not judge, that every person made different decisions under the same circumstances. He decided to change to a more pleasant subject. 

“I always wondered, how the two of you met? You couldn't come from more different worlds.”

Anakin smiled mischievously.

“ _It’s an interesting story for another time. Now we have to come back. It's a cold night and you don't wear a coat. Your mother is going to kill me._ ” 

Ben had to laugh. He had forgotten that his grandfather wasn't dead and even if his mother would never kill him, she could be very vindictive when she wanted. 

At the door, they found Cerberus wagging the tail. Ben hasn't ever seen a happier dog in his life. He was always with a smile on his face. He still had to get used to the idea that this ball of fur was the legendary guardian of the Underworld, an enormous three-head beast whose mission was to prevent the living to enter and the dead to exit. He was simply adorable! He couldn't avoid petting him at the entrance.

“You seem to get well with him.”

Ben raised his head. The one who talked was his uncle Luke. 

“Father.” He saluted Anakin. 

Ben was bewildered! Luke could see his ghost. He didn't expect this at all.

“I think we have a lot of things to discuss. Your parents have withdrawn, they aren't going to disturb us.”

They went to the living room. It was a warm area, with a fireplace where an actual fire was still burning. Ben seated on the couch and Cerberus came at his side and put his head on his knees, he patted his head softly.

“You would wonder how I can see your grandfather Anakin’s ghost?” Right to the subject. Thanks, Uncle Luke. “Well, I don't have a proper answer for you. I don't know why I can, but I’ve always been able to see all kinds of supernatural beings. It's why I chose my profession: I’m a contact between the supernatural world and the human world. Your mother doesn't have this gift, neither your father. And this is my fault, I assumed you haven't either. When you were little and said to me that you saw fairies, I assumed it was the imagination of a lonely child, not the reality.”

Ben smiled at the memory.

“They used to live in the pond next to the house. They immigrated to the woods when I went to law school.”

“Can you explain to me the story about the goddess?”

Been sighed deeply and retold to his uncle his last forty-eight hours. How he had met Rey, his feelings about her, how he felt when he was nearby, what Snoke had told him. For the first time in a long time, he was completely honest. When he finished, his uncle was a moment in silence.

“I don't believe he lied to you. Wait a moment!” Ben was about to interrupt him, “He really put some « _memories_ » in your brain to make you close to Lady Persephone; and he orchestrated your meeting -how Miss Tico would have acquired, otherwise, two entrances to that select party? But what he didn't know was that you were already something special. What? I don't know. But I’m sure that what do you feel for Lady Persephone is real, is yours.”

“ _If you don't know what he is, and Persephone either,_ ” intervened Anakin, “ _Who could know it?_ ”

“I have a friend…” Luke was thoughtful, “She could help you to understand a lot of things. Meet me tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Upper West Side, at 328 West 89th Street.”

Ben didn't understand why they had to meet in a specific address when his uncle was under the same roof as him. Until the answer was clear.

“The morning Kendo practice! Could you say hello to the others for me and excuse me for not being able to attend? I feel I could end in a forgotten deep if I try to approach the dojo. The doctor who attended me today was the god Apollo and he prohibited me from having anything to do with kendo in the foreseeable future...”

“I love you, Ben, and your health is first. So no kendo until Apollo says you are ok to do it.”

“ _I’m the only one who this conversation freaks out a little bit?_ ”

Ben and his uncle looked at his grandfather.

“You are a ghost of an undead man. You should be the last man to be freaked out.”

“ _Says the man who is petting Cerberus, the Hellhound._ ”

“When you think you have seen all the stranger things in the world, destiny comes to kick your ass laughing.”

Ben and his grandfather looked at his uncle, not amused. 

“As if I were wrong!”

************

**_New York, Upper West Side, 328 West 89th Street, January 3rd, 1990._ **

Ben was waiting for his uncle at the street he mentioned the day prior. It was a calm place, tree lined, with light. He could imagine kids run by this street, playing safely as the parents discussed not far behind. The houses were those with a little stair as an entrance and four stories high. He had absolutely no idea of the era, he was a lawyer, not an architect. 

He was waiting, leaning on one of the pillars of the stairs of the house where his uncle had set the meeting, playing with Cerberus. He had found an old ball dated when he was a child that the dog loved to play to fetch. Ben was insecure, he felt observed by someone, but the street was deserted. He felt relieved when his uncle arrived.

“Ben! Sorry for the delay. Tai submitted me to a proper interrogation. This man can be scary.”

Ben smiled. His oldest friend was a gentle soul. He worked as a social worker in Hell's Kitchen. He had often asked for his legal advice in exchange for a homemade dinner. Ben had never regretted accepting it, even if the case was tricky. 

“He was just preoccupied, I’m sure. Well, where lives your friend?”

“In this house.” He signed the house behind him. “I called her yesterday for warn her about our arrival today. She's waiting for us.”

Luke rang a name that Ben didn't have the time to read. They went up some stairs, no lift, and were welcomed by a smiling lady with purple hair. Yes, you’ve read correctly, her hair was dyed in purple! Ben had to use all his strength to not make a comment. The way she was dressed reminded him, in some way, of his mother’s style: long dress, big jewellery, like it came from the Art-Déco era, but good ones, he knew how to recognise real silver from fake.

“Amilyn!” 

“Luke! It's been a long time.”

His uncle and the woman, Amilyn, made the usual greetings and she invited them in. Her apartment was cosy, full of books on the shelves and rugs in the ground. Ben saw, here and there, plants all over the place, accompanied by paintings and posters of lions. He felt, somehow, at home.

Amilyn gave Luke a cup of very hot milk coffee and to him a little slim glass with some hot beverage.

“Mint-tea! How did you know that I like mint-tea?”

She smiled.

“I know many things, young one. I’ve been among humans since so long that I’ve lost the count of the centuries.”

She was a supernatural being!!

“So, Amylin, you know what is happening to my nephew?”

Zero tact, Uncle Luke! Direct to business! Ben was surprised by how he had managed to be a relationship manager between two worlds.

“Of course! I have seen it before” 

A light of hope! At last, someone who could explain what was happening to him.

“What bothers me is why haven't you told him anything, Anakin?”

Ben turned and saw his grandfather appearing from the door. A sense of betrayal flashed in his stomach. He knew something and didn't tell him?

“ _Because I don't know what you're talking about, ma’am. I don't even know who you are._ ”

A little “oh” escaped her lips. She seated near the table, they all imitated her.

“That would explain a lot of things. You didn't remember meeting me during the war?” No, “Tarkin? Krennic? Dooku and Jocasta! Those two you can’t have forgotten them!” 

“ _It’s a total blank in my memory, my lady._ ”

“Ben Kenobi.”

“ _Let’s not exaggerate! Ben Kenobi was my oldest friend, almost a brother. Of course I remember him._ ”

“Do you remember his twin brother? His friends?”

Anakin seemed disturbed.

“ _I… I remember him talking about his twin… I can see a bearded man. It's all blurred._ ”

“The explosion has had to erase some memories. That's why you don't remember me or other people like Dooku.”

“He’s that important to him, this Dooku?” Ben intervened.

Amilyn looked at him directly, without blinking.

“Yes, for Anakin’s history Count Dooku is very important. He was the man who he faced a great number of times, the mind behind every plan he and Ben Kenobi had to thwart, the person who trained his master in the army, also the one who severed his hand. But for you, Ben Solo, the name is Chernobog. What do you see when you hear that name?”

Letting his grandfather’s story aside for a moment, Ben closed his eyes, concentrating.

“Darkness… the night, a contraposition with the light and day. I can’t see anything really specific beyond those concepts.”

He opened the eyes, frustrated. Amilyn, on the other hand, was impressed.

“Is the most accurate description of Chernobog I have heard since himself.”

“What does this mean?”

“Luke explained your case yesterday. How he believes you can be the reincarnation of the Lord of the Underworld, Hades. I agree with him. I think your memories are just… buried. I suppose you have heard about reincarnations, don’t you?”

“Yes but, gods can reincarnate?”

Amylin smiled.

“We have a soul, I can’t see why not?”

“ _We_? You are a goddess?” 

Ben was beginning to be sick of so many gods!

“No. I’m a Titaness,” her back went straight, “I’m Rhea, mother of gods, wife of Cronus and daughter of Uranus. I’m much more than a simple goddess, Ben Solo.”

He had to admit, he was impressed.

“Gods, titans, giants, all kinds of supernatural beings, we have souls and lately we have discovered that we can die. But death is not the same for us as for humans. We are too powerful to simply let a corpse behind and permit our soul to wander in the Underworld. We come back. Maybe not entirely as before, but we can’t disappear completely. You are a human, Ben, but you have all the powers and the memories of my son.”

Ben realized then. How could he forget? She had just mentioned: Rhea was the mother of gods, Hades’s mother.

“How can you be so sure?”

“The mint-tea, it was his favorite. Cerberus is following you without doubting, you have memories of some people you knew. But the most revealing hint is the sword. The cyclops forged the three weapons to only respond to my male sons, and only them. If you weren't Hades, if he was definitely dead, this sword would have been condemned to be inactive forever.”

“So, we agree? He is the reincarnation of Hades?”

“No Luke, he _is_ Hades. A human reincarnation is the idea of the soul migrating from body to body. A godly reincarnation is the idea of the god coming back to the human world in a human body. The only thing I still don’t know is how to give him back his immortal body.”

“So… I was never Ben Solo? My life is all a lie?!”

“No! You have lived as Ben Solo. Felt what he felt, thought what he thought, acted as he would have acted. But most of all, don’t think as they are two different people. You are Ben Solo and Hades. They are the same person, and always have been: you.”

Ben wasn’t understanding anything. How could he be at the same time Ben Solo and the god Hades? How could he be a lawyer in his family firm and the ruler of the Underworld? It didn't make any sense! 

He abruptly stood up from the table. The cosy apartment felt suddenly oppressive. He couldn't breathe. He went to the window in desperate need of fresh air and to be far away from that Titaness.

“How did you know that? And more importantly, why didn't you tell other gods? We have met some who could have been very interested in that information.” 

If you didn't know him, you could think he was calm. But Ben knew Luke too well, he knew he was very pissed off.

“Because Ben is merely the second case I have ever encountered in all History. During World War Two I received the call of a most distressed friend. Ben Kenobi wanted my help to assure himself that he wasn’t going crazy. He had met a man who was exactly like someone we both knew. I went there and I could confirm: Anakin Skywalker had exactly the same appearance as…”

But she couldn't end her sentence, someone was hitting the door with their fist. Weird out, Amylin went to the door to see who it was. 

“ _She could at least end her sentence._ ”

Anakin was unhappy about that. Ben could understand him, he also would have wanted to know who he looked like. Amylin swore that his grandfather was another case like him, but Ben wasn’t sure, he had seen his body and heard his stories, he sounded like a hell of a pilot, but not much more extraordinary than his father and he was a normal human. 

He was drinking his mint-tea, trying to make sense to all this conversation when he heard a discussion at the door.

“I have other guests at this moment!! Review your manners.”

“I’m not in a good mood, Grandmother. And we still have to discuss certain comparatives you gave to my brothers.”

“Can’t wait to hear their complaints,” it was sarcasm, “but now is not the moment… Do not enter my home like that!”

Ben sighed deeply, he didn't have to look at the door, he could have recognised that voice anytime, anywhere. He turned and she was there, beautiful as always, looking at him between astonished and murderously. His heart stopped beating for a moment. Why couldn't he have her in his arms? He would have loved to smile at those same eyes, and kiss her, senselessly, until neither of them had any breath left. It was a good perspective.

“Lady Persephone” he greeted. 

But he couldn't have this dream come true, so he had to bury his heartache under his poker face and look at her fade away.

“Ben…” she whispered.

Or not?

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! I say it was a chapter of revelations! 😏
> 
> About Dooku and Jocasta Nu. The idea came from this [IG post](https://www.instagram.com/p/CFn0hDPAazJ/?igshid=178dbj39cm4vg) about different SW ships (go to see the artist, it's worth it). I saw the draw about a ship between young Dooku and Jocasta and, Force! I fell in love! I have to put it somewhere. And as I didn't know who I wanted to be Chernabog and his dual opposition, Belobog, they couldn't fit better. And in my headcanon, something happened between those two 😤
> 
> The mention of the stars of the Lesser and Great Bear is an Easter Egg for one particular anime I used to see when I was little (Ben could have seen it in 1990). If you are capable to recognize it you’ll have my respect 🤣 but I couldn't mention those stars and didn't talk about it, it was beyond me.
> 
> Well, let me knew what you have thought about this chapter ☺️ I love every single of your messages!
> 
> By the way, I have another WIP ([Doubleballed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980844)) [a Breylo James Bond AU] that’s why I take so long to publish some times. 
> 
> Come to say hello on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Himilce02648519)
> 
> Until next time!!


	11. Chapter 11: Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I’m facing a writer block. But don't worry, I’ll continue this story and you’ll know what happens with Rey and Ben. Just the updates wouldn't be as followed as I would like them to be.

Ben just wanted to have a normal life as a lawyer. You know, fighting in court Monday to Friday, settle down a quarrel between Central Park’s Pixies and Fairies on Saturday (he’s not going to say where they live) and eat Chinese in front of the TV on Sunday after a quiet afternoon passed on reading his last book. The usual!

But no, Destiny hated him.

[Someone has a cup of whisky nearby?]

“Well, I can see both of you have some things to discuss.” 

Rhea interrupted the eye to eye starring. Rey had opened her winter coat and Ben could see what she was wearing: jeans and a Christmas sweater. He didn't know how this was possible, but she was even more beautiful like this than with an elegant gown. 

“No, I’m sorry, we have nothing to discuss.”

Ben remembered that Rey, not sorry, that Persephone had made it perfectly clear: she didn't want to talk with him. It could be the last thing he wanted in the universe, but he was going to respect her wishes.

“Maybe you should tell her what I’ve just told you…” Rhea tried.

“Not necessary. I don't know what you think you know, but I’m not the person you believe.”

Ben impregnated those words with all his pain and suffering. He didn't want to be taken by this god, but at the same time, it was all he wanted: to be looked at by the woman he had always dreamed about with those warm eyes, like he was the only man in the world. This Titaness was saying he could be that man if he wanted to extend his hand and accept this madness, but it was too much to embrace. And he was sure, Persephone would only see in him the husband she had lost, never Ben Solo, never him, and that was breaking his heart. Because Rhea could speak all she wanted, Hades and Ben were two different persons to him right now, and he could never accept the fact that the woman he loved saw in him the replacement for another man.

And as if it was responding to his sadness, a rock resting over the table, broke in half. It was a sad representation of his own heart. Everyone looked at the stone.

“You could lure anybody.”

He gave a sad look into Persephone's direction before coming back quickly to Rhea’s direction.

“Not everybody. Now if you excuse us, I’m sure you have a lot to discuss with Lady Persephone and we have a lot to discuss in family.”

“ _Wait a moment! In fact, I would appreciate it if she could end her sentence._ ” Anakin seemed preoccupied with the situation, “ _Who do I remind you off, Lady Rhea?_ ”

Ben tried to hide a smile. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t accept the fact of being the supposed reincarnation of some deity. He felt very close to that grandfather he has just now begun to know. Ben knew that Rhea was in the middle of a debate between roasted Anakin or let it go. She chose the second option.

“My father, Ouranos.”

The words fell like stone slabs. It couldn’t be. She was talking about a being as ancient and powerful as Earth herself. In fact, in some legends, he was her son. She had to be wrong. If Anakin was the reincarnation of Ouranos it meant that he had passed away at some point but, how can the Sky be dead?

“ _You’re wrong! I don’t believe you._ ”

He went to the door but was stopped by Rhea’s next words.

“ _Skyguy_. Isn’t that the nickname that young woman gave to you a long time ago?”

Anakin turned to face her and it wouldn’t go to be pretty. 

“ _Don’t you DARE to talk about Ahsoka! You didn’t know her._ ” 

Anakin was red in anger. Ben could see the potential of madness in him. But he wasn’t someone who could criticize, he could yell that loud also.

“I knew her.” Rhea didn’t lose her calm, “Ahsoka talked very fondly about you. And I just told you: I met you when you were young. You told me yourself about how you felt, about everything. Do you remember the sensation of the air and the clouds? Of what you felt when you flew? When you fell in a mission with the paratroopers? Your clear mind in the middle of a storm? How free did you feel in the air? The sky has always been so much your element that you thought it was ironic that your last name was Skywalker.”

Ben looked at his grandfather. He was concentrated, trying to remember those conversations that Rhea was so sure they had. He looked lost, sad, unstable. Like someone who had been hit with a wall, to whom they have ripped off their beliefs mercilessly and had been abandoned on one side of the road. Ben knew too well those sensations. It was what he felt in that exact moment. But now wasn’t a time for him, it was a time for his grandfather. Someone who had suffered his whole life, someone who was barely twenty-two years old and only had fought in a world war when he lost everything and everyone he loved. 

All the world condemned him; Ben would not do that. 

He approached his grandfather and extended a hand. He was a ghost, only a soul separated from a dying body. He shouldn’t have the possibility to do this, it shouldn’t be possible. But Ben knew, he knew he was capable. He extended his hand and touched Anakin’s. The poor man gasped. How long has been since the last time another living being touched him? Ben wasn’t sure his Uncle Luke had ever done it, but he could, and he did.

“Grandfather Anakin.”

He used the softest tone he had, one he hadn’t used in years. He hadn’t had any reason: he was in mid-good terms with his family and there were no kids to reassure, so no reason to talk kindly to no one. But his grandfather deserved all the kindness he could give.

“ _... like I was born to walk into the sky…_ ” He looked at him and smiled, “ _You can touch me._ ”

He laughed at all the implications.

“I’ll always be capable of reaching you, grandpa.” Ben took Anakin’s hand in his, “And you’ll always be my grandfather, no matter what.”

He came closer to him and touched his front with his own. It was a kind gesture his mother used to do with him when Ben was lost or needed to be reassured in the cold nights full of nightmares. He could sense how his grandfather relaxed at the touch, how he longed to feel someone and, to finally reach that person, calmed him a lot.

“ _Your grandmother Padmé used to do this when I had nightmares about the war. The fears didn’t go away, but I wasn’t alone anymore._ ”

“When I was a kid, I had a lot of nightmares too.” He still had them. “Grandma Breha had to teach her that, knowing that Grandma Padmé used to do the same with the persons she loved, because it was what she did to make the nightmares disappear.”

“ _It worked?_ ”

“No, but I wasn’t alone anymore. I’d go back to sleep feeling my mother hand in mine. A mother that wasn’t always there.”

Anakin looked at their hands.

“ _I can understand the feeling._ ”

“I know.”

They stayed like that a long time. Feeling each other and simply being there for the other. A presence neither of them wanted to disturb or question; until Luke approached Rhea.

“Lady Rhea, how is it possible that my nephew can touch the soul of my father?”

“I already told you, Luke: because he’s Hades. By nature, Ben is capable of seeing and touching any soul, dead or alive. He will never judge their actions and would destroy anyone who thinks that redeemability of the soul is impossible. Is how he is.”

Luke approached them carefully. Ben knew he couldn't touch his father as he wanted, but he sat next to him. Luke smiled at Anakin and this one returned it. Ben was amazed how father and son were alike. In Luke's youth the resemblance should have been amazing.

“After the trial, when you definitely drifted into the coma, Bail told me my mother’s last words. She always believed in your kindness. She knew you were a good man. Bail was astonished by how instinctively I believed in this same kindness and goodness. I never doubted you, that’s why I wasn’t shocked when you appeared on the trail.”

Ben remembered it. He had studied the case in law school but also it had been a family story. When his Uncle Luke and his mother suited Sheev Palpatine for their mother’s heritage, Anakin appeared in the middle of the trail. He was very weak because of his injuries and everyone thought he was going to talk in Palpatine’s favor, as he was the legal manager of his properties. But Anakin sided with his children. It was his words who ruined Palpatine’s reputation and took him to the grave because of the stress. But he wasn't the only one who almost died. The interrogation was too much for Anakin’s weak state: he fainted at the bar and had to be taken to the hospital where he was until that day. The court almost didn't accept his testimony because of that. Only the fiercest discourse of Leia saved them. It is imprinted in everybody’s memory the image of a mourning Luke taking the hand of a dying Anakin, who said his last words in a murmur, “ _Tell your sister… you were right_ ”.

“ _I came because of you. When no one believed in me, not even myself, you didn’t even hesitate. You gave me the strength to become again, one last time, the man I once was. You can’t begin to realise what it meant to me._ ” 

Ben saw how his Uncle Luke and grandfather Anakin were on the verge to cry. They hadn’t the chance to talk after the trial. This was an unprecedented opportunity.

“Dad, everyone can make mistakes. Some are simply bigger than others.”

Luke looked at Ben. They had a shitty past in some aspects. He wasn’t going to contradict his uncle with that.

“ _Yes, but not everyone bombs a kindergarten._ ”

“And you lost your entire life because of that. You were barely twenty-two. You came from being immersed in three years as a general in a world war, a nomination you received when you were hardly nineteen! At nineteen I was stuck in the desert playing with toys.”

The conversation continued, but Ben’s attention was drawn by a phone call. Someone called Persephone at Rhea’s number, which meant that the person knew where they could contact her. This intrigued him and he paid attention to what she said.

“What do you mean you have to go?... Problems at the law firm? What kind... What do you mean they are not my business?! Don’t be rude!”

Ben had to run to the phone. He knew exactly who she was talking to and he wasn’t liking that conversation! Without any delicacy he took the phone from Rey’s hands.

“Armitage Hux, what have you done to my law firm?”

A minute of incredulous silence came from the other side of the phone before hearing an angry voice.

“I’m not going to ask what the hell are you doing in my sister’s company, but what the hell aren’t you resting at you little house in the Hamptons?”

“My life is my own fucking business, Hux, as your sister’s are her own for the record. Now, answer my question: what has happened to my law firm? With Snoke dead all has come back to the Skywalkers and I’m in charge of the business.”

“And here is where you are wrong. Since when the Skywalker-Organa-Solos are the heirs of Snoke’s possessions?”

Fuck! Hux was right! Ben has been so certain that with Snoke's death his family would recover all its rights about what he controlled that he didn’t think about the possibility that someone else could reclaim his heritage.

“So, you want me to hide…?” 

The plan hit him like a brick. How could he have been that thick? 

“No, you want me to be the bait! If the heir thinks I’m happily in the Hamptons unaware of what happens in New York, they could reveal themselves so you could investigate if they are clean or not? You’re smarter than I thought, Hermes!”

“You have figured out?”

“It was a secret at this point? If Rey is a goddess, Persephone to be exact, and you are her brother, one who knows a hell about laws, the maths are quickly done.”

“Great, is not important now. Take a vacation, make a nice trip wherever you want. In one word: disappear.”

It wasn’t a bad plan. Ben needed to rest a little. He needed to think about what Rhea had just told him and he needed to have time with his family alone. With his powers, he could help his grandfather Anakin make some peace with his children and old friends. In fact, it was a great plan to make peace with the disaster his life has been the last forty-eight hours. 

He passed the phone again to Rey and came back to the window. Luke and Anakin were talking peacefully, Rey seemed to be on the verge to kill her brother, Rhea was cuddling Cerberus and in the streets, Ben could see some kids pursuing each other like a normal day off. If he ignored the fact that he was in a Titaness house, this could have been a pretty normal day.

“I’m sorry to have dragged you into this madness.”

Ben turned his head and saw Rey. Her red sweater suited her so well. He tried to not think about it too much. He had to interlink his fingers to not hug her as he desperately wanted.

“Don’t be,” a sad smile escaped from his lips, “you have heard Lady Rhea, my family has been in this for generations. My grandfather was Ouranus and my Uncle Luke is a bridge between worlds. You aren't guilty of anything.”

Not even of breaking his own heart. Every time something has happened between them, he had made the first move. She hadn’t seemed to refuse him, but since the warehouse, she had barely looked at him. And with the last revelations, Ben couldn't blame her. Himself didn't know what to do with his own feelings, let alone those of someone else. He just needed some time alone to think about this situation.

“Can I ask you a favor? Yesterday I searched for Hel and Osiris. I found them this morning and asked them if I could meet them at my apartment today. They are there now, and Hermes is with them. But I don't want to talk to them alone. Would you come with me? As a witness and legal advisor if something happens…”

All Ben’s alarms rang like a submarine touched by depth charges. Not only her behaviour was good, but her story didn't add up. It wasn’t how she acted and certainly how two gods would have acted by the summon of a third goddess. He chose to be straightforward.

“Be honest. What’s the real story?”

Rey knew she had been caught; she didn't like it.

“I kidnapped them, Hermes doesn't want to guard them anymore and they have heard you. They are convinced you’re Hades and you can liberate them. They don't want to talk to anybody besides you.”

Ben really tried to not laugh in frustration. Everybody believed he was Hades except Rey. He didn’t know what to think about it at this point. He had never thought he could be something else than Ben Solo, but everyone was looking at him like he was some kind of superhero, like he was capable of lifting a car with only a hand. But he was still the same guy from last week, when he terrorized the interns in his department and shut up the other lawyer with a witty comment in the courtroom.

“What do you want from me?”

Rey looked away. He knew he should call her Persephone, that it was her identity, her real name, what she wished. But he had met her as Rey Jones, he had talked to her as Rey, he had fallen for her as Rey, it was impossible for him to just call her Persephone.

“They want you to be there for them.” 

He stood up and tried to look directly into her eyes.

“I haven’t asked what _they_ want, I asked what do _you_ want?”

She looked at him as he wanted. The atmosphere was charged. If they had been alone, he would have done unspeakable things to her. He wasn’t in a good mood, and certainly her eyes looking at him didn’t make things right. He had to use all his strength to stay in his place.

“What I want doesn’t matter. I need them to talk, and for that you’re necessary, so I’ll make everything I would need for you to come.”

“Let’s make things straightforward. If you don’t want me near to you, say it now. But said it clearly. Stop the looks, stop the half-truths. The plain and simple truth for now on.”

“The truth is, sir, it's being very difficult to be close to you.”

“And that’s supposed to be my fault?”

“I never said it was your fault.”

“Don’t ask me to tell you what your eyes are screaming. You wouldn't like the answer.”

“You wouldn't like the look in your eyes either.”

Ben and Rey were so close to each other that their noses could almost touch. From the corner of his eye, he could see how his uncle wanted to intervene at the discussion but was stopped by his grandfather. What had been a good idea, they would have butchered him. 

“Good, this is the deal: we deal with those two gods, in tandem, then we talk, for real. Deal?”

“Perfect. I call Hermes and we can go.”

Rey went to the telephone and Ben to his family.

“I’m sorry. I have to do this.”

“It’s ok Ben,” his uncle Luke smiled, “we understand. You have a lot of things to discuss with her.”

He wasn’t wrong. With Rhea’s revelation, he had to let everything crystal clear with Rey, even if neither of them wanted. This strange thing between them couldn't last any longer. They have to put all the things over the table and be honest with each other. Then he could come back to his family and be with them peacefully.

“Just a doubt; what did Grandfather Anakin say to you to prevent the intervention? He stopped you right away.”

“ _You want to live._ ”

If the situation had been another, Ben would have laughed.

“Good move, Grandpa, good move. We would have killed him if he had intervened.”

“ _Told you. And couldn't say who would have been the most dangerous._ ”

“Rey.”

Ben and his uncle answered at the same time without hesitation.

“Yes?”

The woman was there, just behind them, and uncle and nephew were right: she was frightening. Ben used his lawyer face to distract her.

“Nothing important,” he stood up, “Are you ready? Hux has been warned that we come?”

“Yes. He would watch the gods until we arrive, then he had to come back to the office.”

“I hope nothing serious has happened.”

“One of the top names of the firm kidnapped one of the brightest stars of it, who killed him. It can’t be good for the image of your law firm.”

“Yeah, remember me that, sweetheart,” she clenched. He didn't care, he did it on purpose, “Well, we are off to go. I’ll call mom at the Hamptons house when I’ll end up with all of this.”

“Don’t worry Ben, I’ll let Leia know you’re in good hands.”

If he hadn’t had to go at that moment, Ben would have killed his uncle Luke. The bloody fossil was smirking!

  
  


********************************************************************

Twenty minutes and a very uncomfortable car ride later, they parked not far away from Carl Schurz Park. She lived above her flower shop. At least she hadn’t invented that part. The shop was a little thing, all cute, crowded and invaded by plants. He didn't know how she could sell a single bouquet in that disaster. But people could love that kind of mess. He would have run mad. 

They climbed the stairs followed by a happy Cerberus. If they have to play the Underworld gods, the dog was a must. Rey opened the door and they entered. 

The two gods were tied-up to a chair under the strict eye of Armitage Hux. Even Ben wouldn’t have wanted to be watched by him. 

“Thank you, Hermes, we are going to take it from here.” he said it with his most professional voice.

Hux looked up and nodded. Without saying a word, he took his coat and left the place. One of the two, a man with enormous glasses, tan skin and trimmed beard, looked at him almost relieved.

“Hades, I’m so glad you’re here. Can you tell…?”

“I’m not going to tell my wife anything, Osiris!” he used a loud tone of voice, “I’ve frankly other things to attend to than your messes from you and Hel, and here I have to be.” 

The poor man clenched under him. For such an ancient god, I couldn’t stand a little treat. That meant that his acting was good enough.

“Now she is going to ask you some questions and I hope from you all the cooperation she hasn't obtained; or you are going to discover why the Tartarus can be the prison of primordial beings such as Titans, Cyclops and Hecatoncheires. Have I been sufficiently clear?”

By the look of them both, he had been. He retreated to a corner of the room with Cerberus and the interrogation began. He almost felt bad for those two gods… almost.

[](https://ibb.co/XJY3hGW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Next chapter we would know more about those two gods and, it wasn’t at all an excuse for them to be alone 😇
> 
> Let me know what you thought about it. Love your comments.
> 
> Until next time! Happy Holidays!!
> 
> For those who are curious:  
> \- Ouranos is indeed the grandfather of Hades. Gaia spawned Ouranos, with who she had the Titans. Chronos and Rhea, Titans, were the parents of Hades. Anakin was the biological father of Leia, mother of Ben. Ben being Hades and Anakin being Ouranos, Anakin as always been Ben’s grandfather ☺️  
> \- Here is a [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecatoncheires?wprov=sfti1) about the Hecatoncheires, the mythical being with hundred hands, siblings of the Titans, who sided with the gods in their war against Chronos.


End file.
